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A WALK ACROSS AFRICA 



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S' ■ \ 



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V .'I • 



A WALK ACE08S AFRICA 



OR 



DOMESTIC SCENES FROM MY 
NILE JOURNAL 



BY 



JAMES AIJGIJSTUS GRANT 

OAFTAIN H.M. BENGAL ABMT 

nSLLOW AITD OOLD-MEDALUST OF THE ROTAL 
OBOQRAFHICAL 80CIETT 



WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 

EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
MDCCCLXIV 




THE MEMORY OF 

JOHN BANNING SPEKE, 

THE DISCOVEHEE OF THE SOUECE OF THE NILE, 

THIS VOLUME, 

A HECOBD OF MANY HAPPY DAYS SPENT TOGETHEE 

IN POEEIGN COUNTEIES, IS AFFECTIONATELY 

AND MOURNFULLY INSCRIBED BY 



J. A. GRANT. 



PREFACE. 



It is not without considerable anxiety and reluctance 
that this volume is submitted to the public Having 
contributed my botanical notes, drawings, and meteor- 
ological registers to Captain Speke, I never dreamt of 
a separate publication. My Journal, however, was a 
very copious one, daily entries having been made 
during our expedition ; and some personal friends see- 
ing these notes, conceived that a selection from them, 
describing domestic scenes in Central Africa, might 
not be unacceptable. The geographical part of the 
expedition, aad ite brilliant result, had been fuUy 
treated by my lamented fellow-traveller ; but further 
details as to the ordinary life and pursuits, the habits 
and feelings of the natives, and the products of the 
country, appeared likely to possess a certain degree 
of interest, if not of value. This opinion was en- 
tertained by Captain Speke himself^ who addressed 



VIU PREFACE, 

to mc the following request and advice on the 
subject : — 

"79 EccLESTON Square, Ut June 1864. 

"My deaa Grant, — I really wish you would wTite your 
experiences in Central Africa, from Kaz6 to Gondokoro. In 
doing so, try as much as possible to give, relatively, a con*e- 
sponding valuation to each succeeding countiy, in the order 
in which you passed through them — I mean, as regards the 
products and the capabilities of the coimtries, the density of 
their populations, and the difl'erent natures of the peo[)le, as 
well as the causes aflecting them. Pei'soual anecdotes, espe- 
cially illustrative of the superstitious uiclinations of the jieo- 
ple, will be most interesting. But nothing can be of such 
permanent value to the work as a well-defined account of the 
rainy system and its operation upon vegetable life, showing 
why the first three degrees of north latitude arc richer than 
the first three in the south, and how it happens that the 
further one goes from the equator, the poorer the countries 
become from want of moisture. I mamtain that all true 
rivers in Africa — not nullahs — which do not rise in the 
flanking coast ranges, can only have their foimtauis on the 
equator ; but the people of this country have not learned to 
see it yet — ^Yours ever sincerely, 

"J. II. Speke." 

I shall not attempt to comment upon the rain-sys- 
tem of the elevated land we traversed at tlie equator, 
but merely remark that in tliis region fruitful sliowere 
were constantly falling like dew. The influence of 
these showers was, that although the flora was not so 
tropical as in countries which tu^e at a far lower ele- 
vation, and though this quarter of the globe, from all 



accounts, receives less rain than any other portion of 
the equator, Btill the country might be termed a gar- 
den of fertility and richness. 

My acquaintance with Captain Speke commenced 
aB far back as 1847, when he was serving in India 
with his regiment. We were both Indian officers, of 
the same age, and equdly fond of field-sports, and our 
friendship continued unbroken. After his return from 
discovering the Victoria Nyanza, he was, as is well 
known, coramissioued by the Royal Geographical 
Society to prosecute his discovery, and to ascertain, 
if possible, the truth of his conjecture — that the Nile 
had its source in that gigantic lake, the Nyanza. I 
volunteered to accompany him ; my offer was at once 
accepted; and it is now a melancholy satisfaction to 
think that not a shade of jealousy or distrust, or even 
ill-temper, ever came between us during our wander- 
ings and inteicoxirse. 

The advice of my friend, as given in the above 
letter, coincided with my own views. The scenes 
and descriptions here recorded are from life — tran- 
scripts from my Journal made on the spot, without 
any reference to books, or any attempt at embellish- 
ment Some of the details may appear trifling — all 
of them are very imperfectly related ; but they are at 
least true, and they will help, I trust, to render my 
countrymen more familiar with the interior life of 
Africa, to which Livingstone and Speke have re- 



X PREFACE. 

cently imparted fresh interest, and to which the 
attention of Christian pliilanthropista is now turned. 

The plants which I had the pleasure of gathering 
during our expedition consisted of alx)ve seven hun- 
dred species, fully eighty of which were quite new 
to science. The most useful are noticed in this vol- 
ume ; and the whole collection has been presented to 
the noble Herbarium of Kew Gardens. 

The title chosen for my narrative was suggested by 
a circumstance which I may periiaps be paixloned for 
mentioning, as it forms one of many kind favom-s 
received from Sir Roderick I. Murchison, K.C.R, 
the able and zealous President of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society. Last season Sir Roderick did me 
the honour to introduce me to Her Majesty's first 
Minister, Viscoimt Palmei'ston, and on that occasion 
his Lordship good-humouredly remarked, " You have 
had a long walk, Captain Grant ! " The saying was 
one well fitted to }ye remembered and to be told 
again ; and my friendly publishers and others recom- 
mended that it should form the leading title of my 
book. 



Dingwall, Ross-shibe, 
December 1, 1864. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Embark at Plymouth for the Cape — Madeira — Rio de Janeiro— Simon's 
Bay — Sail for Zanzibar — Capture of a slave- vessel and 500 slaves 
— Land at Zanzibar on the 108th day after departure from Eng- 
land, ........ 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Zanzibar — The slave-market — Climate and produce of the island — 
Trade and shipping — Decapitation of two murderers — Our party 
proceed to the mainland of Africa, .11 

CHAPTER III. 

Journey to Kazeh, 600 miles in the interior — Escort and casualties 
on the march — Cross the East African chain into Ugogo — Climate 
and diseases of Kazeh — Agriculture and products — Wild animals, 
binls, and fish — Four native races, the Wazaramo, Wasagara, 
Wagogo, and Wanyamuezi, . . . . .22 

CHAPTER IV. 

Sojourn at Kazeh, lat. 5" S., long. #33° R — Province of Unyanyembe 
— Crops, cattle, &c. — Moossah, an Indian trader, his wives, attend- 
ants, and cowherds — The Watusi — Disastrous effects of war — 
Moossah's account of the northern kingdom, . . .44 

CHAPTER V. 

Journey to Ukuni — Difficulties at starting— Picturesque country — 
Attacks of fever— Trees and fruit— Mode of making bark-cloth — 
— ^Natural history — Native club-house— Dances and games — ^De- 
scription of a Sultan — Women of the country — Slaves in irons — 
Release of a slave — Native cookeiy — ^The negro on parade, 57 



XU CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAUK 

Village life at Ukuni, May 27 to September 12, 1861— The country 
well cultivated and wooded — The seasons, winds, &c. — Blind 
musicians — Food of the natives — ^Women at han'est— Coinage and 
manufactures — Flora of Ukuni — Domestic and wild animals — Sin- 
gular ceremony with a dead lion — Attack of ants — Sultan and Sul- 
tana of Ukuni — African women are good mothers — Drum music 
— Su2)erHtitions — System of brotherhood, . . . .81 



CHAPTER VII. 

Ukuni to Karague, September 12 to November 25, distance 200 miles 
— Commencing the journey — Attacked on the march — The Watuta 
race— The country between Ukuni and Karague — Waterfall — Vol- 
canic mounds — The king of birds — The Wanyambo— The Walinga, 
or workers in iron — A native beauty — Language of the country, 111 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Karague, November 25 to April 14, 1862 — ^Thc royal family — Habits 
of the Sultan Rumanika — Crusader-like custom at new moon — 
Idolatry — The Sultanas brothers— Description of Karague and its 
neighbourhood — Illness of the author — EInglish garden jKiaso — 
Markets, coffee-traders — Earliest information regarding the Nile — 
The two races of Karague, the Wahunm and Wanyambo — the Priii- 
cessen — Royal residence — Musical instnimeuts, . . .137 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Uganda march, April 14 to May 27, 1862 — Marilxx) and hi^ 
Uganda followers— Rich foliage — Ferrying the river Kitangulc— 
Superstition against sounding the river — Victoria Nyanza, a bound- 
less sea — Fine country between Kitangule and Kitouga — Flora of 
the district — Incidents of the march— Lunch ynth Uganda woman 
— Disagreeable march — The governor Pokinno— Summer-houses of 
the Uganda, ....... 188 

CHAPTER X. 

Uganda, May 27 to July 7, 1862 — Meeting with Captain Si)eke— Aud- 
ience with the King of Uganda— The Queen*s drawing-room — The 
detective system— The executioners — Stick drill — Ingenious work- 
men in Uganda — A storm, ..... 219 



CHAPTER XI. 

'ganda to Unyoro capital, 7th July till 9tb September 1S62— First 
stage, akmpa unitsd, Uganda to Karee — The cattle and aport of 
the country— Ooe of the Seedees killed by the natives— Budj a, the 
chief native officer — Uiuical instnunonts — Captain Sjieke proceeda 
to the Lake Nyanza — An telope'shootiag— Difficulties in the way of 
the author's advance — 8peke returns, and the camps are united — 
Elephant-huat in Unyoro, ...... 2 



CHAPTER XII. 

The capital or palace of Uayoro, September 9 to November 9, 1862, 
latitude 1° 37' north, longitude 32° Iff east — Topography of the 
country — Its climate, soil, and mmoala — King Kamarosi and hia 
wives— Class of aendicanta— Arms nsed by the Wunyoro— Their 
food and drink— A blacksmith's shop — Amosemeoti of the na- 
tives—The eipedition embark on the Nile, . .2 



CHAPTER XIIL 

Jonmey from Unyoro capital to an Egyptian camp, November 9 to 
December 3, 1S62— Floating islands on the Nile — River scenes and 
canoe chase — The people civil and hospitable — Dwellings and 
orchards of the natives — Waterfalls at Kanima — Fishing and hip. 
popotamuB trap — Ferry the Nile, and cross an uninhabited forest — 
Join an encampment of Turks, . .3 



CHAPTER XIV. 

From December 3, 1862, to January 11, 1863— Faloro, latitudes' 13' N, 
— The Tooikces or Turks — Regimental parade^ Moonlight dance 
— Products of Faloro— Wild animals- Miani's tree at Apuddc — 
Author hears of the death of Captain Speke^Prejiarations for 
entering the Bari country, . . .3! 



CHAPTER XV. 

Paauge tliroDgh the Bari — Poisoned streams — Gondokoro — Meeting 
with Mr 3amnel Baker— Ur and Mrs Petheiick arrive at Gondo- 
koro — Trade and traders — The Kile, and mode of ferrying it — 
Embark in Baker's boats for Khartoom, .3 



XIV CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PACL 

Gondokoro to Khartoom, from 2<)th February till 30th T^Iarch 18C3 
— Leave Gondokoro by boat — The Shir country — Austrian mission- 
station at Kitch — The rivers Bahr-el-Ghazal, Bahr-Giralfe, and 
Sobat — The Shillook country' — Banks of the Nile — Arab settlement 
of El Eis — Entry into ci>HlL*e(l countiy — Arrival at Khartonm, . 374 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Khartoom, from 30tli Manh till loth April 18G3— The Blue Nile- 
Natural products — ^Vli Bey — Khartoom a cantonment for troojw 
— Its Imzaars and manufactures — The Coptic church — The Austrian 
mission-house— Egyptian remains — Dejiarture by boat for Berljcr, 401 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Khartoom to Cairo — The Glicrri i»ass— Ruins at Scenili — Tlie Pyramids 
and ruins of Moroc — The river Atbara — The town of Bi»r]>er — Sceu^^s 
across the desert— The village of A])oi.> Ahmed — The false pea, or 
Bahr Belama— Natron wiIIh — Kxtraonlinary natural tunnel — Ko- 
rosko — Cairo — England, 420 



MAP OP THE ROUTE OF CAPTAINS SPEKE and GRANT across 
AFRICA, fROM Zanzibar to TitE Medit£RRAni:an, — 1« a Pocltt in 
Cover of the Volume. 

M'GANDA WARRIOR SALUTING,-on the Cor^v of the Volume, 



EXPLANATION OF NAMES AND TERMS. 



Ambadj ; native name for the pith-tree, which lines the banks of the 
NUe about 7* north latitude. 

Bajra ; the Indian name for a grain (Penicillaria spiccUa), grown in 
Africa. 

Byre ; the jujubetree, ZyzyphuB jujuba, called M*konazee in Wasua- 
hili language, and Kalembo by Wczees. The fruit is the size of a 
marble, with a hard sweet-tasting rind and large stone. In Abyssinia 
it is converted into a cake, and in Egypt it is sold in the markets. 

Begaree ; a system of porterage from village to village, formerly prac- 
tised in India. 

Bomah ; a fence of branches made round an encampment 

Boee ; a species of red-legged partridge found at 2^ south latitude. 

Burzah ; a summer-house or place of reception. 

Budja ; the name of one of the officers of the King of Uganda. 

Bogo ; native name for a wild buffalo. 

Bana ; Sir ! or Master ! 

Bundwa or Wichwezee ; a class of gentle beggars. 

Buggera ; the people of Madi and the ivory-hunters call their cattle by 
this name. 

Dagara ; the late father of the King of Karague. 

Ensetc ; a species of wild plantain discovered by Bruce the Abyssinian 
traveller, called M^seegwah and NTtembeh by natives, who make 
necklaces of its seeds. 

Florikan or flonken ; a bird of the bustard family, found in cultivated 
open places. 

Gonjeh ; the name which the Seedees apply to the otter. 

Onamaeray or Nyamsera ; a heartebeest antelope. 

Inteh ; the name for a cow at Karague. 

Jowari ; a grain, vide soighum. 

Kousee ; the name given at Zanzibar to the south-east trade-winds. 



XVI EXPLANATION OF NAMES AND TERMS. 

KiVTO ; a place on the Liita Nzigc Lake, famous for its «ilt. 

Kisuahili ; the dialect of the Wasuahili on the east coast of Africa. 

Kin^ranee ; a laige river, at 6j° south latitude, on the east coast of 
Africa. 

Kittora ; a province to the west of Uganda. 

Kanga ; a guinea-fowl, found along our whole route. 

Kibuga ; the residence of the King of Uganda. 

Kiengo ; the nanie of a medicine-man or rain-maker who accomijanied 
me to Uganda. 

Kamarasi ; the King of Unyoro. 

Kidi ; a nude race living on the Nile at 2^° north latitude. 

Kagaera ; was applied to the river Kitangule, and mat/ also mean any 
river. 

Kong'o ; the natives of Madi call their coarse hcov by this name. 

Karasha ; a small tusk of an elephjint, or any tusk under 2(> lb. weight. 

Lweetanzigeh ; the lake called Luta Nzige in Spi*ke's Journal. 

Lueroo ; the name given by some Waganda to the jjortion of the Vic- 
toria Nyanza where the Kitangule joins it. 

Looaleh ; the Ugimda term for a supreme object or place of reverence. 

Manioc, or Manihot utUissima; a bush which attains a height of seven 
feet ; its root, known .it Zanzil)ar as " Muhogo," is the staff of life 
there, being usetl as we do our potato. 

^Fweng^ ; an intoxicating drink mode from the fruit of the plantain in 
Karague and Ugandiu 

Merry ; the Uganda name for Iniiled plantain. 

^lun^'a ; the EUimne coracana^ or ooleyzee r»f the Seedees, a minute 
gr.iin converted into flour and eaten like stirabout, or made into a 
fermented drink. 

^Fganga, or Ouganga ; a general tenn for a charm, or for a man who 
divines events. 

MarilKX) ; the name of one of the officers of the King of Uganda. 

Misr ; Egypt. 

IkFkoongoo ; signifies an Uganda officer commanding fifty or more nii*n. 

^Psiega ; the \'ulture, which usually eats the flesh of condenmed cri- 
minals in Uganda. 

I^rfoongoo ; the name for a species of \^lltu^e. 

Mukooa ; a tribe of negroes, famous as sportsmen, li\'ing in 12** south 
hititude. 

Momlias ; a seaport at 4° south latitude on the east coast of Africa. 

Mamba ; the mune given to a crocodile by Seedees. 

Mina ; a black bird with yellow l>eak found in Lidia, and which can be 
taught to speak. 

Miicquareh ; a flat, broad, sweet-tasting fislL 

^iFkoma ; the Karague and L^ganda title for " king." 



EXPLANATION OP NAMES AND TERMS. XVll 

M'nanagee ; the brother of Rumanika. 

M*fomb8Bro ; the name of a mountain, estimated at 10,000 feet high^ 

fifty miles west of Karague, at 1}° south latitude. 
Maharageh ; a bean or calavance, cultivated in Usui, &c. 
M*kooyoo ; a species of wild fig. 

Murees ; the name given to home-brewed beer by the Egyptian ivory- 
hunters. 
Madar of the Punjab ; a milky bush, called CcdctropU procera. 
N'deezee ; the name given by Seedees to hpe plantain. 
Nurrowareh ; the name given to the Victoria Nyanza by some Wa- 

gandxL 
Nanga ; a wooden musical instrument, having several strings. 
Nyanzig, or Gnans-gnans ; signifies " Thanks, thanks," and is used as 

an expression by the WagandxL 
Nzowe ; a long-haired antelope, living amongst the papyrus rush on 

the borders of the Karague and other lakes. 
N'kole ; a small province to the north of Karague. 
Nyanza, Gna(n)za, Nyassa ; are one and the same term, signifying lake. 
Pokino ; the governor of a large district in Uganda. 
Posho ; the term for food, rations, or pay. 

Panganee ; a river at b^° south latitude, on the east coast of Africa. 
Poml)^ ; a fermented liquor made from grains, roots, or fruits. 
Quikooroo ; the palace, or title of the residence of the Sultan of Usui 

and Karague. 
Qualae ; a species of partridge, so called from its peculiar cry. 
Reonga ; the name of the King of Unyoro's rebel brother. 
Ripon Falls ; the cataract at the escape of the Nile from Victoria Nyanza. 
Ruanda ; the coimtiy from whence rises the largest feeder of the Victoria 

Nyanza. Its border can be reached by water in three days from 

Karague. 
Rogserah ; the rebel brother of the King of Karague. 
Rumanika ; the Bang or Sultan of Karague. 
Soighum, Andropogon sorghum; a common African and Indian grain 

made into stirabout, or used for making fermented drinks ; Kaftir 

com of the Cape, M'tama of East Africa, Doora of Egypt, and Jowari 

of India. 
Sesseh, the islands of ; on the west of the Victoria Nyanza. 
Seedee ; the general term for a negro. At Zanzibar, those of ever}' race 

who have been freed from slavery are called Wungwaua. 
Saharee ; a cloth of cotton check worn round the loins or thrown over 

the shoulders. 
Toorkee, namely, Turks ; the name given to the Egyptian ivory-hunters 

by the people of Madi and Ban. 
Ukuni ; a district of Unyamuezi, at 4° south latitude. 

b 



XVIU EXPLANATION OP NAMES AND TERMS. 

Uhioo or Uliiyow ; a populous dlRtrict about 8° south latitude, and not 

iieu: from the oast cou^t. 
UMa or Mohia ; a pro\'ince between Kiim^^e ami Victoria Nyanza. 
Ugogo ; a dry plateau land in Central Africa, at 6i° south latitude. 
Utumbi ; an extensive province to the eouth-we&t of Unyoro. 
Usui ; a district south of Karague, dreaded by traders and travellers on 

account of its extortionate sultan. 
Verembe ; the expression useil by natives of Karague when they mei't. 

It corresponds with our " How do you do ? " 
Vitokeh ; pLantain-trces are called by this name in Uganda. 
Watuta ; a plimdering, restless race, suppaseil to be a brjmch frt^m the 

Zulu Kafl^ of the Cape^ They have spread as far north at 3^^ south 

latitude. 
Wezee ; a short expression for the jjeople who live in Unyamue/i. 
Waioongoo ; the term applied to white men. A white man is callinl 

M'zoongoo. 
Wahuma ; the reigning races of Usui, Karague, Uganda, Unyoro, &c. 
Wazeewa ; a race from Uhia, living upon the banks of the Kitan^oilc. 
Watusi ; a race of cowherds, who are scattere<l on either side of the 

equator, and who resemble the Somali in appearance. 
Yanee ; a monkey, said to be so vicious that he will return a spear if 

thrown at him. 



A WALK ACEOSS AFRICA: 



DOMESTIC SCENES FROM MT 
NILE JOURNAL 



CHAPTER I. 

EMBABK AT PLYMOUTH FOB THE CAPE — MADEIRA — RIO DE JAN- 
EIRO — SIMOK'a BAT — BAIL KOR ZANZIBAR — CAPTURE OF A 
SLAVE VESBEL AND BOO SLAVES — LAND AT ZAHZIBAB OH 
THE lOCTH DAY AFTER DEPABTUBB FBOM ENGLAND. 

On the 30th of April 1860, Captain Speke and I 
embarked at Plymouth on board H.M.'s steam-ship 
Forte, 51 guns, bearing the flag of Admiral the Hon. 
Sir Heiuy Keppel, K.C.B., and commanded by Captain 
G. "W. Tumour. Generally speaking, few persons care 
to hear details of a voyage to the Cape, although, in a 
frigate with 640 souls on board, a greater variety of 
incident as well as interest might be expected tiian m an 
ordinary sailing-vessel. Eight days passed smoothly; 
on the ninth day we gladly stepped on shore to enjoy 
the bright island of Madeira, with its scented shrub- 



2 BIO D£ JANEIEO. 

beries, which, though hotter than the temperature on 
board ship, were exquisitely refreshing and delightful 
Here, for some days, dances, picnics, rides, walks about 
the picturesque ravines, and cricket-matches, formed 
the chief occupation. A farewell waltz was danced on 
board ship, and the deck was like a brilliant May-day, 
crowded with ladies wearing gay sashes inscribed with 
the name of our good ship Forte. Our next fete 
was on the Queen's birthday, when the poop was grace- 
fully hung round with large silken colours, and the 
Admiral gave a bountiful entertainment The cross- 
ing of the Line was duly commemorated in the old 
nautical style, with douche baths, and effective appli- 
cations of steam-hose in the hands of joyous young 
middies. 

The lottery as to the hour of arrival at Rio de 
Janeiro was won by the only lady on board ; and on 
entering the magnificent bay — a most lovely sight — 
we were saluted by a perfect storm of cannon and 
music from the Brazilian, French, and American men- 
of-war lying off the town. On landing, the mule 
carriages, the dingy sallow look of the people, the 
dazzling displays of jewellery, and the artificial flowers 
made from the feathers of gaily-plumaged birds, par- 
ticularly struck us ; and a drive to the botanical gar- 
dens to see the avenue of betel-palms, and a walk to 
the neighbouring woods, deepened the interest of Rio. 
As cholera raged in the town, several parties took 
steamer to the head of the bay, passing richly-foliaged 
islands in their course. Hence, forty miles of rail, 
through swamp and forest, brought us to the foot of 
mountains, which we ascended in omnibuses drawn 
by four mules, passing on the way others, handsome 



MAN OVEEBOARD. 3 

animals, laden with bales of goods for the interior. 
The drive was most interesting, every curve in the 
Simplon-like road unfolding fresh beauties. Tree- 
ferns, the papau, and air-plants of every colour, 
clothed the hill-sides. At dusk we reached Petro- 
polis, a hill sanatorium, where we remained two or 
three days, enjoying its many natural beauties and 
the fine cool air. 

Embarking again at Rio, the day after we left shore 
our attention was arrested by the cry of " Man over- 
board ! " The life-buoy was slipped and the cutter 
lowered. We saw the poor fellow struggling with the 
buoy, and then disappearing ; but he was picked up, 
and the ship stood on her course again, the whole tak- 
ing place in less time than I have taken in mentioning 
the fact. Oddly enough, the hero of the scene got a 
fortnight's salt-water grog for having been in some 
forbidden place when the accident occurred. During 
the night of the 22d June, the tramping, rushing to 
and fro, and shouting of commands on deck, told there 
was a storm, and sleep was impossible. Sixteen hours 
afterwards, the sea still raging in striking magnificence, 
and the ship running along at eleven knots, the cry 
was again heard "Man overboard!" and every one 
sprang to his feet. Such was the discipline that, from 
the time I first heard the alarm till I saw the boat 
lowered in charge of two of the officers, Wilkinson and 
Gye, only two minutes elapsed. The man is seen 
clinging to the buoy ; in the dusk of evening he is lost 
sight of ; the boat also disappears ; the suspense is 
painful ; " bum a blue light ; " the boat nears the ship ; 
every one holds his breath, tUl at length the simple 
words, "All right, sirl" convey joy and gladness to 



4 CAPE MOUNTED RIFLES. 

all. The hardy English tar who had caused such ex- 
citement, actually assisted in rowing the boat back to 
the ship. We, of course, had our storm off the Cape 
— a midnight scene ; and though we had four boats 
washed away, our mainyard sprung, and water rush- 
ing wildly through our cabins, the noble ship bore the 
strain most gallantly, anchoring the following day, 4th 
July, in Simon s Bay. 

Sir George Grey, the Governor of the Cape, whom 
the Forte was conveying to his seat of government, 
was a true friend to our expedition, and evinced the 
deepest interest in its progress. By his influence 
we obtained a grant of £300 from the Cape Par- 
liament to supply us with a dozen baggage - mules. 
Two honourable members, who formed the minority, 
when the question was put, sagely remarked that 
" It was nothing to them where the source of the Nile 
was ; every one knew it was south of the equator ; " — 
not a bad guess 1 In the Governor s body-guard, when 
he called for volunteers to cross Africa, there was not 
even this minority — not a dissentient voice was heard ; 
all wished to go, and we selected ten — a corporal and 
nine privates of the Cape Mounted Riflea When 
paraded for our inspection, they reminded me of the 
Goorkas of India. On the 16th July two teams of 
beautiful bays pulled up at the Admiral's house, 
Simon's Bay, where we then were, conveying these ten 
volunteers, who sat in the open four-wheeled vans 
looking very smart with their red caps, much to the 
envy of some Forte marines, who would have liked to 
go with us. 

The embarking of the unmanageable mules was 
kindly effected by Mr Wilkinson of the Forte ; and hav- 



iDg bidden adieu to all her officers, we sailed that night 
for Zanzibar in H.M.'8 steam-ship Brisk, 1 G guns. Cap- 
tain De Horsey. Sir Henry Keppel and Staff, on a tour 
of inspection, were also on board. The first night was 
one of intense discomfort. We were shut up within the 
walls of a screen-berth 10 feet by 1 0, the cots bumping 
against each other, a rolling sea, and half-a-dozen mules 
kicking and neighing in their misery all night long, 
and directly overhead. The officers, however, were ex- 
tremely kind, and their wardroom so cheerful, that we 
soon forgot these midnight annoyances. Every morn- 
ing a man named Long, a sailor, who said " he knew 
how to manage mules, as his mother kept a team," 
would report that the mules were " all alive." This 
was very superfluous news, for we had been hearing 
their music overhead all night. Often at dinner- 
time Long would take the favourable opportunity of 
exercising his mules about the deck, and giving the 
middies a chance of a ride. At roll-call of a Sun- 
day, some of the names of the crew sounded very 
oddly. For instance, three Kroomen dignified them- 
selves with the titles of " King John," " Soda-water," 
and " Prince of Wales;" while my servant answered to 
the name of " April." He was a jetrblack man, and 
one of the " Tots" (Hottentots), whose first essay as 
valet much amused ua I had never had pUlow-slips 
on board, and he, thinking that I ought to possess 
them, found one for me the first night in the shape of 
my empty clothes-bag — a feat most creditable to his 
ingenuity and sense of cleanliness. On the 27th of 
July this same gentleman, while in Delagoa Bay, landed 
in green velvet shooting-coat, tight jockey-trousers, 
and neat r^imental cap — quite a swell in compari- 



" TUETLE-TURNING." 



son with his master ; but though he was considerably 
blacker than the natives there, and very probably came 
originally from the same stock, he told me that he did 
not understand a word of their language — a curious 
instance of negro affectation. These Delagoa men were 
the first genuine Africans I had made acquaintance 
with — bright-witted apparently, slim, and very ugly, 
with a wild avaricious look, eating and drinking any- 
thing you chose to offer them, and scrambling for the 
fag-ends of your cigars — all in strong contrast to the 
gentle Hindoo. What surprised me was, that near 
their conical grass huts they kept pigs, which are rarely 
seen near an Indian village. The breed was a very 
good short-nosed black kind. Two vessels in the har- 
bour, manned by East Indians, were pronounced by 
the " Piince of Wales," and others who boarded them, 
to be fitted up for slaves ; but the Portuguese governor 
assured us that no slaver had visited Delagoa since the 
last English man-of-war was there a year ago. This 
did not remove our suspicions, for the flat-roofed houses 
in the bazaar had every appearance of being receptacles 
for slaves. 

On the night of the 1st August the Admiral indulged 
us all by landing on the uninhabited coral island of 
Europa. He was the first to " turn a turtle," and in 
low water capsized and sat upon the animal all alone, 
while a jolly middie, named O'Eouke, ran for help. 
The beast was so strong that he was carrying the 
" light weight" out to sea by the use of his flappers, 
which acted to some purpose on the making tide, and 
on the Admiral's legs in particular. The doubtful 
struggle lasted an hour and a half, when some sailors 
came up and towed the vanquished turtle ashore — 



SEWING-SCHOOL AT MOZAMBIQUE. 7 

weight, 360 lb. The birds here were so tame and in- 
sensible to danger that the men were able to knock 
them OTcr when on the ground with sticks and stones. 
Four living turtle were brought on board and placed 
on their backs, with a swab each as pillow. When 
the ship was at anchor they were lowered with a 
rope attached to them, and swam about playfully 
below the stem of the vessel, coming to the surface 
for air every thirty seconds. The butcher, while kill- 
ing one by cutting its throat all round and opening 
holes in its groins, remarked that its thick blood felt 
" cooler than a sheep's," and I observed it to be two 
degrees less than the atmosphere (78*). He also en- 
tertained the common belief that turtle will only die 
at sunset 

On the 7th of August we lay oS the wooden pier of 
the island of Mozambique, an extinct coral formation. 
Here Speke and I were able to converse, in their native 
tongue, with Indian traders living away from their 
wives and families, whom they had left behind in India. 
We saw an interesting sight at a ship-provisioner's : 
in his back premises we found a sewing-school of ne- 
gro boys and girls, presided over by a black sempstress ; 
the boys were on one side and the girls on the other, 
Quaker fashion, all very neat and orderly, and en- 
gaged in making shirts. Farther on, in a dirtier quar- 
ter, women stood at a millstone grinding wheat, while 
othera were alongside sifting it. One, a handsome 
gypay-looking girl, had through her upper lip a large 
button of wood, which she sucked into her mouth most 
adeptly, in order to create a laugh and coquet for 
money. The cooks and hemnen were of a lower grade; 
and two lads, who also begged hard, were in chains. 



8 CAPTURE OF A SLAVER. 

having a rod of iron between their ankles. They pro- 
bably were recent investments, and could not be 
trusted at large. But what shocked us most deeply 
was seeing a poor woman brutally struck across the 
chest by her master, a black half-caste Portuguese, for 
attempting to go out without leave. Such are some 
of the vicissitudes in the life of a slave ! — submis- 
sion may obtain kind treatment, but even this is not 
always sure. 

The Portuguese troops in Fort Sebastian have Hin- 
dostanees amongst them, and they observe the pleasing 
(Spanish?) custom of doffing their caps during the 
" beat off" at sunset, and I understood froia a sentry 
that they paid this respect also to the rising sun. The 
governor diued with the Admiral. He was in plain 
clothes, and wore a star. His crew of ten negroes 
had to wait in their boat during the operation of 
dinner. They were in man-of-war costimie, and, re- 
markable enough, the head-dress was a black Highland 
bonnet with crest. 

On the 10th of August a slave - vessel. Sunny 
South or Manuella, was captured with upwards of 
500 slaves on board, 75 of whom were women. 
The scene they presented of nakedness, despair, 
disease, and hunger, was too loathsome to describe ; 
while, to judge fix)m the ham and preserves I saw 
with Long, our mule attendant, who had been sent 
on board and made good use of the opportunity, 
the captain and officers must have fared well. The 
crew were brought on board the Brisk for the Ad- 
miral's inspection. All came willingly, with the ex- 
ception of one or two, who were a little rusty, requiring 
the assistance of one of our big marines to bring them 



ARRIVAL AT ZAV ZIBAB. 9 

to order. They continued smoking till stopped by 
the atem discipline of the ship's corporal, who received 
and ranged them in formal line to take their names. 
Eventually they dispersed over our ship, and, after 
some days, might be seen working quiedy with the 
other sailors. The slaver, one of the fastest and moat 
beautifully - proportioned vessels ever put together, 
went to the Mauritius, losing 105 of the poor 
starving creatures during the passage, and was after- 
wards wrecked near the point at which she was 
captured. 

At Johanuah Island (about 12° S. lat.) we stayed 
four days taking in coals. To a rambler or lover of 
picnics by clear brown mountain-streams, margined 
by a most luxuriant flora, I know of no such charming 
spot within the tropics. Its harbour, however, is a 
dangerous coral basin or lagoon. 

On the 17th August the island of Zanzibar came 
in sight; also four smaller isles, looking like great 
arks whose bows and stems hung bushing over the 
waters. The island has a low appearance. The town, 
running along the shore for a quarter of a mile of 
flat- roofed warehouse-like buildings, is not impos- 
ing, its mud fort-towers and the flags of four consul- 
ates being the only prominent objects. The bay is 
perfect, and we anchored close to shore in seven 
fethoms, this being the 108th day since we departed 
from England. 

The greatest heat encountered — and it was felt to be 
excessive — was when in 16° S. lat at Mozambique, the 
medium temperature in the shade being, on the 7th 
August, 78°. Lat 37° S., long. 21° E., on the 22d of 
Jane, after a storm during the night, shows the lowest 



10 AMUSEMENTS ON BOARD SHIP. 

recorded medium temperature, namely, 46*. Many a 
pleasant hour was whiled away during the two voyages 
— shooting, band-playing, rubbers at whist, amuse- 
ments vnth the various dogs, — ^Tawny, a clever collie ; 
Ossian, a deerhound ; and Lumpus, a retriever, &c. ; — 
sketching and photographing, dr3ring botanical speci- 
mens, and picking up daily instruction in nautical 
observ^ation. 



CHAPTER II. 



ZAHZIBAB — THE 8LATE-MAKKET — CUMATE AND PEODOCE OF 
THE ISLAND — TRADE AND SHIPPING — DECAPITATION OF 
TWO HUBDEREBS — OUE PARTY PKOCEED TO THE MAINLAND 
OF ATBICA. 



Aftee anchoring at Zanzibar, the Brisk had compli- 
mentary salutes from the men-of-war in the harbour — 
namely, the Sultan's, the French, and H.M.S. Lyra. 
Next morning at eight the Admiral had a special 
salute from one of the Sultan's frigates ; and again, as 
he put his foot on shore to attend a durbar, another 
was given in honour of our country — our ships return- 
ing each and aU. 

Colonel Rigby, an officer of the Bombay army, 
H.M.'s Consul, entertained us with true Indian hospi- 
tality during the thirty-nine days of our stay; and 
hia exertions greatly contributed to our getting away 
so quickly. He, having passed in six languages, acted 
as interpreter at the durbar, where the Sultan was 
most affable, shaking hands witii all 

Though the streets of Zanzibar are too narrow for a 
wheeled carriage, and the supply of water deficient, 
everything looked clean and neatly kept; and the shop- 



12 ZANZIBAE SLAVE-MARKET. 

keepers, chiefly Indians, were respectful even to a pain- 
ful degree, rising as we passed them. The bazaar is very 
abundantly supplied with vegetables, fruit, and dried 
fish; little butcher-meat, but liquor-shops abound, 
and water has to be purchased — the best quality being 
carried fully a mile from a hot spring, which bubbles 
from under rock, and tastes unpleasantly warm. Men 
in the marketplace have an odd way of hawking about 
their goods for sale. Goats, carved doors, beds, knives, 
swords, &c., are all paraded up and down, and their 
prices shouted out. The market for human beings is 
a triangular space surrounded by rickety huts, thatched 
with cocoa-nut leaves ; and the parties of slaves (negi-o 
men and women brought originally from the interior 
of Africa), on being exhibited, are guarded by men 
with swords. Some of the unhappy groups sit calmly 
in the marketplace, looking very clean, well fed and 
dressed, but with a depressed anxious look, sajdng to 
you with their eyes, " Buy me from tliis yoke of 
slavery 1'' It is a very striking though most humiliat- 
ing sight to observe one of the Zanzibar rakish-looking 
crafts (felucca-rigged) arrive from Ibo, on the main- 
land, crammed with naked slaves for the market — all 
as silent as deatL The Arab owners, gaily dressed, 
stand at the stem, and one holds the colours, in seem- 
ing defiance of the British Consulate, as he sails past 
The price of slaves was low in 1860 — only £3 each ; 
and many Arabs would have taken less, as Colonel 
Bigby had released upwards of four thousand, who 
became independent, living in a newly-made part of 
the town, and gaining a livelihood by fetching water 
and selling the produce of the island. 

The Sultan was most polite in sending riding-horses 



THE sultan's stud. 13 

to any gentleman who might request them from his 
stud of Arab descent Colonel Rigby^s horse-attend- 
ant took me to the spot. The mSna^e consisted of 
some forty horses and mares of Arab blood — ^twenty 
of them packed so close in line under a long shed that 
it would have defied any one of them to lie down. 
They stood upon an incline of wood six inches higher 
in front than behind, with heel-ropes so tight that the 
poor animals could hardly raise their feet ; many of 
their tails shaved to the bone, others snipped round 
with scissors ; not a sound one amongst them — broken 
knees, greasy and gummy legs, mangy skins, bags of 
bone ; and the outer one of all such a skeleton that I 
listened to ascertain whether he breathed. Certainly 
the mares looked more comfortable when picketed in 
the morning in the open yard upon sand, and tied 
loosely by the head, with nose-bags full of grain; 
and the picture around them of domestic animals 
had much the appearance of a home farmyard. 

The climate of Zanzibar is very relaxing, owing to 
the himiidity of the air, a great amount of rain falling 
during the year. The rain comes down in plunges, 
pelting showers, or like squalls at sea, and in the in- 
tervals any bodily exertion is attended with profuse 
perspiration and lassitude. I may mention that we 
pitched camp on the 13th September, for our Cape 
Mounted Rifles, on a rising ground near a pond behind 
the to\ra, where they remained upwards of ten days. 
On the 28th, when on the main coast of Africa, three 
of these Tots were struck down with fever, a fourth 
was seized soon after, and then a fifth — all on the 
same day. Speke and I did not sleep in that camp, 
and our health was not affected. Colonel Rigby men- 



14 ATTRACnONS OP ZANZDBAIL 

tioned a similar case of the Assaye men. Twenty-six 
out of sixty who slept inland were attacked with 
fever; those who had taken quinine recovered, while 
those who had not died. From this it would appear 
that risk attaches to certain constitutions from sleep- 
ing inland, away from the sea-breeze; although, on 
the heights of the island, where the soil is a rough red 
grit or friable clay, I should not anticipate danger. 
But on these elevated spots there is this disadvantage, 
that no water is procurable ; even in a well forty feet 
deep I observed there was none. 

To one wishing to enjoy good health I would pre- 
scribe this recipe : Reside on the shore ; be in a boat 
by sunrise ; row to any point on the island, or to the 
exquisite living formations of coral ; walk home be- 
tween the hedgerows, amongst beautiful clove or mango 
groves ; enjoy the refreshing milk from the cocoa-nut ; 
observe the industry in the fields, the snug country- 
houses of the Arabs; examine the "diggings" for 
copal ; look at the men washing the elephant-tusks on 
the sea-shore, or at the immense variety of crazy craft 
— in short, keep active, and you will find that there 
are many worse climates than Zanzibar. 

The island has two crops of grain yearly, and four 
of manioc, which, with dried shark, is the staple 
food of the people. They cook it in every form, mak- 
ing also flour of it. One has only to walk of a morn- 
ing along the roads leading into . the town, to see the 
productiveness of this beautiful island. Negro men 
and women laden with mangoes, oranges, plantain, 
sugar-cane, grass, cocoa-nut, manioc, yams, sweet po- 
tato, Indian com, ground-nut, &c., go in streams to 
the market The return of these crowds is, in con- 



FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. 15 

trast, utterly ludicrous. Nothing do they then caxry 
but a stick over their shoulder with a cut of stale 
fish hanging from it ; and one wonders at the extreme 
poverty of the people in the midst of such abundance. 
Besides the above products, cloves, cotton, bajra, sor- 
ghum, dall, coffee, tobacco, sessamum, grass, nutmeg, 
red pepper, betel-nut, catchoo-nut, jack-fruit, papau, 
almond, pomegranate, and the castor-oil plant, were 
all seen growing. To remark upon a few : — The 
mango-tree, met with everywhere, is splendidly um- 
brageous, more lofty than the variety seen in Indian 
topes, and not so brittle. It jdelds two crops yearly 
of stringy fruit ; but there are better sorts, such as 
those from Pemba Island, to be procured. The clove- 
tree is planted in rows 20 feet apart, and after it 
has grown to the height of 30 feet, it seems to die, as 
if from the effects of ants. Cloves have diminished 
immensely in value ; what cost 25 dollars twelve years 
ago can now be purchased for one dollar ; consequently 
the agriculturists do not replace the dying trees. The 
spice was being gathered by men on tripod ladders on 
the 6th September. Cotton we rarely saw. The 
cocoa-nut is the most common tree in the country- 
the husk, we observed, being used as firewood, and 
a capital salad is made from the crown of the trunk. 
The Arabs allow their slaves to cultivate the manioc 
or "mohogo'' gratis, under the cocoa-nut trees, in 
payment for gathering the harvests of mango, cloves, 
&c. The growth of the ground-nut is very curious, 
creeping close to the ground, with a yellow flower and 
leaf resembling clover. On the flower withering the 
pod goes underground, where it matures. The coffee- 
tree grows luxuriantly, and the sugar-cane is very 



16 TRADE. 

fine; pomegranate does not seem to succeed. The 
boundaries of farms are often marked by the castor- 
oil bush. 

Miserable-looking camels drive the oil-press. Cattle 
do not thrive, though upon the neighbouring island of 
Pemba a small breed succeeds. Few butchers' shops 
are seen : the natives adopt the vegetable and fish 
diet, not being able to afibrd meat. Goats, when cas- 
trated and stall-fed, become very heavy, and their 
meat is considered a great delicacy by the Arabs. 

Trade has considerably increased at Zanzil^ar. The 
shipping consists chiefly of large native craft — thirty 
to forty from Bombay, Muscat, &c., and but three or 
four ships firom Europe and America. The merchants 
have their Exchange, if the place they daily meet in 
may be designated by this title. Here human beings, 
money, ivory, copal, cloves, cloths, beads, rice, cowries, 
opercula, and goods firom all quarters of the world, 
change hands. The largest single tusk we saw at 
Zanzibar weighed 165^ lb. ; length, 8 feet 7^ inches ; 
greatest circumference, 1 foot 11 inches — all of the 
purest blue-tinted soft ivory. It belonged to Mr 
Webb, the American consul. He had also an enor- 
mous hippopotamus tusk, nine inches greatest circum- 
ference, and turning, like the horn of a Highland ram, 
once and a half round. As the tusk increases in size, 
a corresponding rise takes place in its value per lb. 
Tortoise-shell fetched 15s. per lb.; for hippopotamus 
ivory there was then no demand in Europe. 

Several stirring events occurred while we were at 
Zanzibar. Once the Brisk got information of a slaver, 
but on sailing in search could find nothing of her. 



BRAVE CREW OP BLACKS. l7 

Again, after she had left, the Sultan requested Speke 
to take one of his ships of war and capture a slaver at 
Panganee; but this also proved a fruitless chase; and 
as we were anxious to return to the preparations for 
the march, we left the Sultan's corvette at sea, and 
proceeded homewards, at 10 a.m., in an open boat of 
ten oars — distance to Zanzibar, 40 miles. We pulled 
till 5 P.M., found the current carrying us to the Indian 
Ocean, and put in for the night on a coral isle. 

Our brave crew of blacks, the same class of men 
who subsequently accompanied us upon our expedi- 
tion, started again at four in the morning, rowing, off 
and on, till we reached home at eight that evening. 
The rowers accomplished this great feat without a 
grumble, singing the greater part of the way, though 
with nothing to cheer them for the two days but a 
few biscuits, sweetmeats, and oranges. Who can fail 
to admire such spirit ! But we have the same class of 
African, when roaming amid his native wilds free from 
all control, committing murder without scruple ; and 
an illustration of this came under our notice here. 
Dr Roscher, a German gentleman, while exploring 
near Lake Nyassa, was murdered in 1859 by natives 
who coveted his scientific instruments. The sultan of 
the country, justly indignant, sent four men to Zanzi- 
bar to stand their trial for the murder. Two were con- 
demned, and suffered decapitation on the 23d August. 
I was present, going to the execution with the " sur- 
rung'' or boatswain of the British Consulate, who 
cleared the way for me to get near the two men. They 
squatted outside the fort wall with perfect composure, 
naked from head to foot, except a waistcloth ; neither 

B 



18 DECAPITATION OF TWO MURDERERS. 

tied nor handcuffed, and guarded carelessly by a few 
jesting soldiers. The Sultan's order to proceed with 
the execution not having arrived, a considerable delay 
occurred, during which the most intelligent-looking of 
the two prisoners stated to me that he had committed 
the act when in a state of unconsciousness ! A jail 
official here announced that the Sultan wished the 
sahib to give the order, and I informed Colonel Kigby 
of the circumstance. He at once saw through the 
timidity of the Sultan, and said, as the sentence had 
been passed weeks ago, he could give no orders about 
it Eetuming to the place of execution, where both 
men still sat, we found the mob had increased An 
Arab boldly asked me, " Why should two men suffer 
for one white ?'' On my remarking that " Sooner or 
later tiie men must suffer— tiie sun was broiling over 
the poor creatures' heads — would it not be charity 
to go on with the execution?" the reply was, "They 
are mere animals, and have no feeling." Still no 
one would give the order. Again the Sultan was 
applied to. A rush was now rudely made on the 
crowd by half-a-dozen handsomely-dressed Arabs^ 
brandishing their shields and swords. I thought it 
was a rescue, but kept my place; and it appeared 
tiiey only wanted to get up to tiie prisoners, around 
whom every one laughed heartily at the momentary 
panic. Here one of the guard with whom I had been 
conversing laid hold of my arm, and, followed by a 
noisy drmnmer, the prisoners, and mob. we pushed on 
for a dozen yards, and stopped in an open space where 
some cows were lying. A twig of ^gL pinioned 
each man, and they were made to sit on ijjie ground, 



EXECUTION SCENE. 19 

speaking calmly, while the crowd, all crushing around, 
joked as if at a holiday rout. Another delay occurred ; 
no one had given the order. On being asked, " Might 
it commence ? *' I replied, " Yes, certainly ; proceed,^' 
The executioner at once took his place, drew his 
sword, weighed it in his hand, threw up his sleeves, 
and slipped his feet out of his shoes, while the dense 
mass all seemed breathless. The executioner was a 
small man, respectably dressed, looking like an Indian 
" Nubbeebux.^' The prisoners sat three yards apart, 
one slightly in advance of the other. The foremost 
was then ordered to bend his head, when, with one 
stroke, the back of his neck was cut to the vertebrae ; 
he fell forward, and lay breathing steadily, with his 
right cheek in his own blood, without a sound or 
struggle. The executioner, after wiping his sword on 
the loin-cloth of the dying man, coolly felt its edge. 
The other victim had seen all, and never moved nor 
spoke. The same horrible scene was again enacted, 
but with a diflferent result ; the man jerked upwards 
from his squatting position, and fell back on his left 
side, with no sound nor after-struggle. Both appeared 
as if in a sweet sleep ; two chickens hopped on the 
stiU quivering bodies, and the cows in the open space 
lay imdisturbed. I left the spot, hoping never to 
witness such another scene ; but I had the satisfac- 
tion of feeling that justice was carried out, and 
that had I not been present those murderers would 
have escaped punishment, owing to the eflfeminacy 
and timidity of the Sultan of Zanzibar. Their 
accompUces, each with a cleft log on his neck, 
were taken to witness the bodies: they were to 



20 CROSS TO THE MAINLAND. 

have a free pardon, and to be sent back to their 
homea 

We had now a great deal to do in preparing for a 
three years' journey, in taking observations and work- 
ing them out For the benefit of photographers, I 
may mention that the " developer " succeeded. It was 
given me by Mr Apothecary Frost, KI.C.S. 

The Sultan very kindly ordered that we should pro- 
ceed across to the mainland of Africa (only forty miles) 
in his corvette, the Secundra Shah, commanded by 
Captain Mahomed Camese. We sailed on the anni- 
versary of Havelock's entry into Lucknow, the 25th 
September. The wind was ahead ; our crew, a rough 
set of African lads ; sandbanks were about ; and after 
splitting our maintop-sail, and many oaths (strange to 
say, in English) from the native commander, trying to 
put things to rights, we put back for the night, an- 
choring close to where we started. The commodore, 
an Arab gentleman, came on board to see what acci- 
dent had happened. He remained in charge, and early 
next morning, taking us as far as Choomba Island, 
returned in an open boat. The passage to the seaport 
of Bagomoyo was made in ten hours, but before we 
could land there was a row of three miles' shallow 
water, near the end of which two fine stout fellows 
came splashing through the water, shouldered me from 
the boat, and bore me like a child, nolens volens, in 
triumph over to the dry shore. These were our own 
" Seedee boys,*' or Africans, and they gave us a warm 
greeting. Everything was reported by Sheikh, the 
Arab in native charge, as ready for a start We 
tried to march on the 1st October, but the trashy 



THE MARCH DELATED. 21 

bazaar — all its flints, flah, rice, grog, and sixpenny 
accordions, not worth more than ten pounds — had 
too many attractions for our men ; and we did not 
get away till the following day, after having drunk 
success to the expedition in & bottle of Colonel 
Rigby's champagne, and seen our kind host into his 
boat on his return to Zanzibar. 



CHAPTER III. 



JOURNEY TO KAZBH, 600 MILES IN THE INTERIOB — ESCORT AND 
CASUALTIES ON THE BiARCH— CROSS THE EAST AFRICAN CHAIN 
INTO UGOGO — CLIMATE AND DISEASES OF KAZEH — ^AGRICUL- 
TURE AND PRODUCTS — WILD ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISH — 
FOUR NATIVE RACES, THE WAZARAMO, WASAGARA, WAGOGO, 
AND WANYAMUEZL 

On the 2d of October 1860, we started fix)m Bago- 
moyo on the East African coast for Kazeh, 500 miles 
in the interior of Africa, latitude 5** soutL The party 
consisted of the following : — 

Captain Speke, commanding. 

„ Grant, second in command. 
Corporal, Cape Mounted Rifles, butcher. 
Private " William," bugler and cook. 

„ Middleton, Speke's valet 

„ April, Grant's valet, cook, &c 

„ Lemon, useful generally. 

„ Beyters, fiddler. 

„ PeterR. 

^, Arries. 

„ Jansen. 

„ ^ Jacob" Adams. 
Said bin Salem, native conmiandant 
Bombay, factotum, interpreter. 
Baraka, commanding 2ianzibar men, interpreter. 



CASUALTIES OF THE EXPEDITION. 23 

Balum, interpreter, 'i ,.. . * j 

v^i aL I Pnvate eeryanta and 

Mabrook, valet, domkey-maiL 

Three or four women. 

Sixty-four Seedee boys, ) Canying onr kit and 

115 porters of the interior, ) barter. 

Eleven mules carrying anmmnition. 

Five donkeys to cany the sick. 

Twenty-five Belooch soldiers escorted ns for the 
first thirteen stages, and we had the under-mentioned 
casualties during the journey : — 

Private Peters dead ; 

Five other privates sent back sick ; 

About thirty Seedees deserted ; 

One discharged ; 

113 porters deserted ; 

Eleven mnles and two donkeys dead ; 

Fifteen out of twenty goats stolen ; and 

Our native commandant, the Sheikh, hors de cotnhcU. 

The daily stages have been so well and so fully 
described by Captain Speke that I shall not dwell 
upon them, but merely mention a few incidents de- 
scriptive of our life in the interior, and the fauna we 
observed. To accomplish this distance of 500 miles 
in 71 travelling days, of from 1 to 25 miles per day 
on foot, took us all the months of October, November, 
December, and twenty-five days of January, struggling 
against the caprices of our followers, the diflSculties of 
the countries passed through, and the final desertion 
of our porters. 

There being no roads, merely a rough track, no 
beasts of burden nor conveyances of any kind in the 
coimtry, our whole kit was put into loads of 50 and 
60 lb. each, without lock or key, and the porters 
paraded up and down with them a whole day tiying 



24 CRIES OF "BOMAH" AND "POSHO."' 

their weight — a ludicrous scene of confusion and 
squabbling. Their captain, distinguished by a high 
head-dress of ostrich plumes stuck through a strip of 
scarlet flannel, seeing all ready, led the caravan in single 
file with great dignity during the march. The pace 
was never more than three and a half miles per hour. 
When the captain put down his load for as many 
minutes as he thought necessary, the rest, a gang of 
naked, woolly-haired negroes, with only an airy cover- 
ing of goat-skin in fix)nt, would also stop and refresh 
themselves with pipes, snuflf, grain, dancing, and sing- 
ing choruses. Generally there was an argument to 
settle how long the march should continue ; and many 
were the excuses found for a halt, no water ahead 
being a common one. Once camped, and the loads 
stacked amidst cries of "Bomah !'* or ring-fence, and 
" Posho ! " or food, the first concern with every one was 
to receive his day's wages, consisting of either a portion 
of cloth or one necklace of beads, while we retired to 
tents seven feet square, which were generally sheltered 
imder a tree, with the kit and natives all roimd us, a 
motley crew. If we had that day arrived at the 
headquarters of a sultan, an oflScer would call saying 
his master must have so many cloths, with various 
other articles, and he must himself have so many 
more. Strong arguments and menaces would follow, 
and it sometimes took several days to the confer- 
ence, as the sultan would be reported absent, or, more 
often, tipsy. However, once settled, if no porters 
absconded, we were free to proceed on our journey. 
I may here remark that nothing can exceed the noise 
and jollity of an African camp at night. We, the 
masters, were often unable to hear ourselves talk for 



TEE BITER KINOikin. 2S 

the meny song and laughter, the tattle of druma, 
jingling of bells, beating of old iron, and discordant 
talk going on round our tents. Ko Hindoo dare be 
so rude in your hearing, but an African only wonders 
t^t you don't enjoy the fun. 

We passed through three distinct countries — 
Uzaramo, Usagara, and Ugogo. Kow at Kazeh we 
were in Unyamuezi — translated "Country of the 
Moon." Our interpreters had been Africans speaking 
Hindostanee, and seemed to learn the dialects as they 
went along, their native Kisuahili tongue being to 
them a useful basis. The four countries were not gor- 
emed by one king, but divided into provinces, each 
from 20 to 30 miles across ; and each had its despot 
ruler, the terror of travellers, who were forced to pay 
whatever tax was demanded without reference to any 
scale. The aristocrats or chieis Hved in no greater 
luxury than the poor, although they had a revenue 
from fines, taxes, a tusk of every elephant kUled or 
found dead in their province, and the produce of 
large herds of cattle and of farming. 

On leaving the coast our path ran up a broad, flat, 
dry valley of grass and trees for twenty marches. At 
the ninth stage, £rom a ridge of rising ground com- 
posed of small pebbles in rotten sandstone, we saw 
distant hills to the north-west, and had a good view 
of the sluggish, winding Kingani, which we did not 
altogether lose sight of till the thirteenth march. We 
crossed the East Airican chain at an elevation of 4750 
feet, and got into Ugogo, a plateau without a river, 
and its " neeka" or deserted land requiring abundant 
rain to make it look at all green. These hills were 
tame in general outline ; the flora also was poor. We 



26 ACCLIMATISATION FEVEBS. 

next hailed with delight the country of Unyamuezi, 
where water was abundant, oozing from under rocks 
on the surface or from ouicroppi^ rock ; and there 
was a pleasant confiding air of homeliness and 
repose in the people, so difierent from those worth- 
less races we had found such trouble in passing 
through. 

The climate, with wind behind us on the march, 
was cooler and less creative of thirst than that of India. 
Our dress was an English summer one ; no turbans 
were necessary ; the evenings were delightfully cool ; 
the sun seldom set in a ha^e, and one morning of mist, 
the 24th January, was the only one we had. At night, 
feeling quite secure from attack, we never slept in our 
clothes, but covered ourselves with from one to five 
thin blankets, according to the elevation. During the 
last week of November, previous to the regular rain% 
our camp at Ugogo suffered from heavy north and west 
gusts of wind, which set in at 9 A.M., or from dust- 
storms lasting two or more hours. In December the 
rain for the time would almost crush our little single 
canvass tents, but it afterwards imparted to the air 
that delightful freshness of the " cold season '' in the 
Punjab. Fine, however, as this country appeared to 
us, nearly all suffered from an acclimatisation fever, 
which rapidly imdermined our strength. The five 
Tots were sent back from its effects; all were mar- 
tyrs to it, suffering from pains in the head, eyes, and 
limbs — ague, perspirations, drowsiness, startled sleep, 
and delirium. The only remedies in our power or 
skill were calomel and jalap, quinine, the first thing in 
the morning, and strong soup or hot grog when in 
store. The following is the report, 27tli October 



GUN AOCTOBNT. 27 

1860, and about the same number of men were in 
hospital every morning : — 

WilUam, 10 land., 2 qnmine. 
Middleton, 10 jalap, 2 calomel 
Lemon, \ 

Ain^ * ) 2 qninine each. 

Jacob, ) 

Bahan, 2 pills coL ; Speke dressed wonnd. 

This does not include the doses given to natives in 
camp, who had the greatest faith in the medicine- 
chest, often sitting roimd us as it was administered, 
and asking for the dregs of the glass ! We had an 
amputation case. The men were practising with their 
rifles at a suspended bottle, and Rahan blew off one of 
his middle fingers, and came bellowing with rage into 
camp, saying, " Look here what I have suffered by 
being induced to come upon this horrible journey 1 
My life-blood is running," &c. He had evidently been 
drinking. No time was to be lost. I thought from 
the first that I should have the operation to perform, 
and Speke requested me to do it. I overcame the feel- 
ing of reluctance, and asked for a knife. The Sheikh's 
razor performed a beautiful flap operation, taken from 
the inside of the hand, and covering tiie knuckle. 
Rahan shrank at first from it, crying out most lustily, 
and abusing us and Baraka for having brought this 
misfortune upon him. At last he said, " Go on : do 
it** When half through, he pulled away his hand, and 
gave a tremendous scream ; but with great coaxing the 
affair waB finished; and, without having tied up any 
arteries, in a very few days he had the use of his hand, 
and recovered his temper. 
We never could understand the disease that was 



28 MULE DISEASE. 

fatal to the mules and donkeys. Speke and our Tots 
would have known a tzetze fly had they seen one, 
and we therefore concluded that their deaths must have 
been caused by their eating deleterious grasses, for they 
lived on what they could themselves pick up, having 
neither com nor hay. Here are the notes on one case : 
"30th Dec. '60. — Mule (the last red one) swollen 
all over the body for the last two days ; breathing 
thickly ; discoloured water oozing from the body ; 
on making incisions, blood and water came freely ; 
not relieved; half of tail cut off; no blood, only 
water came ; on pressing the body with thumb, the 
impression remains. Miracle if he recovers " — which 
he never did. The donkeys had much more spirit 
than the mules. We lost only three out of five dur- 
ing the march, though overladen with bundles, pots, 
and kettles. The wild zebra and donkeys mingled and 
fraternised by distant neighs. 

Some of the daily incidents seemed so strange and 
interesting to me that I noted them rather fully, and 
think a few quotations from the Journal now and 
then may not be unacceptable. Extract : " 8th Nov. 
'60. — Peters reported ill yesterday; teeth clenched, 
eyes rolling, body rigid, pulse 120 ; wouldn't speak ; 
had been asleep in the sun. I recommended bleeding. 
To-day he had ridden the march on a donkey, but could 
not sit up ; had to be lashed to the beast. He now 
lay on the ground seemingly unconscious, his stomach 
violently heaving. At 3 p.m. the caravan was under 
way again. Lashed Peters on the saddle like a 
Mazeppa ! Fever still upon me.'' " November 9tli. — 
* The man is dead,' said the corporal, while we were 
busy painting. We were all shocked. He had died 



FUNEBAL OF PETEBS THE EIFLEMAN. 2d 

calmly without the knowledge of his comrades. I 
had fever to-day/' " November 1 OtL — Fmieral, 5 a.m. 
The body sewed up in an American cloth ; carried in a 
blanket, four Tots with a comer each. The corporal, 
Speke, and myself formed the procession, the corporal 
carrying a hatchet and two sword-bayonets to extend 
the grave if necessary. Found only a grave one foot 
deep, and partly filled in with grass. Hatchets and 
bayonets were used, and we got a place large enough. 
I read the service, and afterwards returned to camp. 
Sketched a * Goodae ' tree. Had fever, no ague, but 
mind wandering; very drowsy; disturbed rest AU 
the niggers exceedingly jolly — ^singing, playing bells, 
horns, drums, &c." 

At our first camping-ground by the coast there was 
not a drop of water to be seen — a sad calamity 1 But 
Bombay, an old traveller, and always ready-witted, 
relieved the minds of the Tots by telling them that a 
well would be dug after the camp had settled down 
a bit, which literally was the case. While near the 
Kingani — a true African-looking river, with its tall 
reed edges — ^we had abundance of water, but mawk- 
isL It was a white, muddy, sluggish stream 40 to 
50 yards across, with steep clay banks 16 feet above 
the water, and winding so much that no steamer could 
make ite sharp turns. Canoes ferried it. One well, 
or puddle, a short distance from this river, made our 
plated spoons quite black, and turned blue test-paper 
red. In Ugogo the wells were from 11 to 15 feet 
deep, of bluish clay upon rock, the water nitrous, and 
nearly the price of beer. Sometimes, when there was 
no water for thirty miles, a small quantity would be 
carried in gourds, where, from the shaking and heat, 



30 CULTIVATION OF THE GROUND. 

it soon became nauseous or insipid. Our Zan- 
zibar Seedees have a very polite custom : when they 
see any one of the camp arriving fagged, done up, 
and parched with thirst after a long march, one's 
thoughts perhaps running on displays of fruit in shop- 
windows, ices, or lapping water in a stream, they run 
out, like good fellows, to meet you with a drink. Let 
it be hot, bitter, or black as ditch-water, thirst is 
allayed; and, on looking to see whence the luxury 
came, you observe the men standing in a miry pool, 
like dogs on the 12th of August, while the poor birds, 
disturbed by the intrusion, wait their turn in the trees 
overhead. 

There is not a plough in the country; a broad hoe 
answers equally well. Men with small axes cut down 
the forest; the trees and rubbish are burned; the 
long-handled iron hoe, chiefly in the hands of the 
women, turns over the light soil ; and the seed is 
dropped into a hole made by the woman's toe, and 
covered up. Manure is seldom used; six months' 
fsdlow would seem to be its substitute. Fields close 
to villages occasionally get manure, or red clay heaps 
are spread over the dry, drifting sand-soil of Ugogo. 
We had no opportunity of seeing the reaping. Copal 
holes are only found between the coast and the Afri- 
can chain of hUls. The country produces chiefly 
sorghum, bajra, sweet potato, and Indian com, with 
tobacco, pumpkins, a small quantity of rice, manioc, 
ground-nut, and grains mentioned in Appendix to 
Speke's book. Mushrooms grow wild, and are eaten 
considerably. Tomato is not eaten. Tamarind, figs, 
honey in hollowed logs placed up trees in the forest, 
rich and good. The chief staff of life is stirabout, 



CATTLE AND FOOD. 31 

made fix)m the sorghum, and from this grain they also 
produce a coarse, intoxicating; thick liquor, tasting like 
wort In Ugogo they manufacture small pillars of salt 
by evaporation, but it is dirty in colour, with a dis- 
agreeable bitter taste. Fowls, eggs, and goats were 
occasionally brought into camp to be bartered for 
cloth, tobacco, or beads, as there was not a coin — 
copper, silver, or gold — ^that they would take in ex- 
change for their produce. 

We met with no cattle, except those collected for 
export at the coast, until we had proceeded twenty 
marches into the interior, at which point, and farther 
on, we saw a small humped breed, the prevailing 
colours being white and red — the bulls with large 
humps and small horns. The goats were of the 
ordinary short-haired sort, never used as milkers ; and 
sheep, though rarely seen, were of the " doomba " or 
fatty-tailed variety, the size of a year-old Leicester, 
costing nine yards cotton stuflF. Small bandy-legged 
brindled dogs followed the Wagogo. 

Food was not abundant As it was the dry season, 
we had to trust to chance and our rifles. One night 
our entire dinner consisted of two ears of Indian com, 
eaten with salt; nothing besides, neither bread nor 
rice. Bombay very kindly, in the middle of this re- 
past (which was laid out on our " service " of reversed 
tin lids placed on the tops of wooden boxes as tables), 
went and brought a cold grilled chicken, very small, 
and awkwardly flattened out Though our hunger 
prompted us to accept the offer, we declined with 
many thanks. But, while sitting rather sQently over 
our empty tin covers, he again appeared, having 
foraged five live chickens — ^thus securing for us not 



32 THE RHINOCEROS. 

only that night's supper, but food for the next two 
days. Our supplies of grain frequently ran out in 
camp, but the sportsman need never starve in the 
country we passed through ; for although we could 
not always find large game, there were sparrows, 
doves, or guinea-fowl to be had ; while persons who do 
not sport may take note of the herbs gathered by the 
natives, and live upon them at a pincL The spirit of 
our men sank, and a deep, gloomy silence hung over 
camp, when we had no grain, and continuous days of 
bad sport with our rifles. Not a man would obey 
orders ; they refused to march, and discipline had to 
be upheld in several instances by inflicting corporal 
punishment for the crime of stealing cloth to buy food. 
One Seedee, a powerful fellow, roared for mercy during 
the flogging, and disclosed to us who had been his 
accomplice in the theft. He was therefore excused 
the third dozen of lashes, and carried away bound, to 
be expelled from camp next morning. 

We foraged zealously for the camp, and succeeded 
in giving to every one a little meat The black rhin- 
oceros would rarely charge, even though he saw us 
standing close to him ; but they always afford consid- 
erable excitement by the feints they make, and by 
their deep hoarse grunt. Their ears were often torn 
and their tails mutilated, apparently in consequence 
of their fighting with each other. Our whole camp 
ate heartily of the rhinoceros ; but the flesh, though 
sweet, requires very sharp teetL Their young would 
seem to have great affection. Wounding a large female 
one night, I next day traced her spoor for four miles, 
and suddenly came on her squatting like a hare in her 
form, with her back towards me. There was a great 



ZEBBA-HUNTINO. 33 

deal of whining or puling near the spot, which I took 
to be her dying criea Advancing cautiously, a differ- 
ent rhinoceros cocked its ears at me, and I felt for an 
instant at a loss which to fire at : both barrels from 
" Blanshard " went at my new young friend, who rushed 
off crashing through the underwood, and I only then 
saw that the poor old lady was cold dead, and she 
proved so heavy that three of us could not move her. 
It was the young one weeping over its mother that 
caused the plaintive cries I had heard. 

Zebras seen cantering in open forests of bare-poled 
trees without a vestige of underwood, form a beautiful 
sight; they can be stalked very easily, and, unless 
made aware of danger by antelopes feeding with them, 
they will turn round and stare at you, some even ad- 
vancing a few paces, like the wild horse of Thibet. 
When I first heard the cry of the zebra I took it 
for the call of a bird, with a little of the donkey at 
the end ; but, listening for some time, and seeing the 
animal, I would describe it as a half-bray, or cross 
between a foal's and a donkey's call. They are perfect 
in symmetry, and barred jet black to the very hoofs, 
which are large, wide, and well cared-for by nature's 
farrier, the grass in the forest. Two of our Tots 
would not eat them because they had never eaten 
horse-flesh ; but every one else was glad to get " five- 
year-olds," or even " aged " ones, though of all wUd 
animals I considered it the worst food, tasting so very 
strong. After the tongue or any portion of the meat 
had been boiled, it smelt of a stable, and caused 
instant disgust and nausea. Cut in long stripes, sun- 
dried, and toasted in ashes, was the only way of mak- 
ing the zebra flesh lose this flavour. Had we had any 





34 WILD ANIMALS. 

salt, probably pickling it might also have answered. 
The paunches were in several cases lined with clusters 
of maggots, a disease known amongst sheep in this 
country. 

Buffaloes gave Speke some dashing home-charges ; 
but though I sought them everywhere, I never had a 
shot. Their meat was as fine as that which any Eng- 
lish butcher can produce — ^the men eating of it day 
and night as long as it lasted. Brindled gnu is 
equally good, but far more beautiful in the field. 
Fearfully shy, they look at you for an instant only, 
then scamper off, lashing about their switching long 
teas; and after giving a short spurt, they turn round 
again, take another furtive glance, and then bound 
madly away. 

Giraffe are such wary animals, their heads peering 
over the tops of the acacias on which they feed, that 
only one specimen, a bull, was shot. This was done 
with a Lancaster ball through the heart, and I thought 
the latter small in proportion to the size of the animal 
On asking for the head to be brought for preservation, 
I foimd that the Wezee porters had cut the ears off, 
and were already frizzling them for dinner. The hairs 
of the tail are so stiff, thick, long, and such a hand- 
some black, that the natives value them very much 
for stringing bead-necklaces. It being a thorny acacia 
country, our men benefited by the giraffe's thick skin, 
which they converted into excellent sandals. For 
days afterwards, as they passed to windward, the 
odour of a menagerie was unmistakable. 

Lions were fired at once during a moonlight march ; 
others were heard both day and night making short 
coughing noises, but never " roaring like a lion.'' They 



WILD ANIMALS. 35 

kill cattle, and, if trapped, are carried lashed in a lit- 
ter as royal property to the sultan. Tracks of the 
elephant were numerous in Ugogo. Here we saw 
some hunters, Mukua, from the Lufigi, with long 
"Tower" flint-muskets, looking as perfect as when 
new. With these they watch the elephant at night 
by solitary pools of water, and fire a volley into him ; 
but they consider that the best place to strike him is 
just in front of the ear orifice. Eland, haxtebeest, 
black antelope, &c., and several smaller species, were 
shot or observed in our constant pursuit for specimens. 
There is a charm about the bark and spring of the 
startled saltatrix, a chamois-sized antelope, or when 
seen standing proudly on the face of the shelving rock, 
that reminded us of the goorul or chamois of the 
Himalayas. Their fore-feet hoofe are immensely long 
in the heel, enabling them to cling to the rocks. 
The hirax, or coney, backing on the rocks, is also 
very interesting : he is about three times the size of 
the hare. We saw very few of the latter ; they were 
the same colour as the English, but smaQer, with ears 
disproportionately large ; they seemed to run more like 
rabbits than hares. Lungoor and monkey we seldom 
met with; the latter are hunted for their skins by 
the common pariai dog in Uzaxamo, but the natives 
do not eat them. Squirrels occasionally cracked nuts 
on the forest-trees : they were of the usual size and 
beauty, most difficult to " twig,^' and having a white 
longitudinal stripe running down either side. There 
were weasels, brown ferrets, small foxes with black 
muzzles, and red foxes, jackal-sized, white-chested, with 
the perfect bark of a dog, and extremely graceful, with 
elegant dark brusL Mangy-coloured, impudent hy- 



36 WILD ANIMALS. 

enas prowled and howled round the camp, much to 
every one's amusement ; they are such wary, cunning 
beasts that only one was shot, and our men had no 
delicacy in carr}'ing it into camp for examination 
and dissection. In India private servants would re- 
fuse to touch such a piece of carrion. 

The ugliest monster is the wild boar — head narrow 
and long, with four warty protuberances, and the skin 
between the two tusks as broad as it is between the 
eyes. The mane is immense, but behind it there is 
little or no hair ; however, nothing looks prettier or 
more like a race of Arab horses than a herd in full 
flight going across the forest with erect heads and 
stmight-up tails. We saw a crocodile, the colour of 
a tiger, lying on the bank of the Kingani, where 
the spoor of hippopotamus was \dsible. We came 
across very few chameleons or serpents, but saw a puff 
adder 2^ feet long, vdth abruptly short tail and four 
fangs. There were many species of lizards ; one twelve 
inches long, veiy handsome, with vermilion head and 
shoulders, and bright-blue body. Shooting two of 
these amongst some rocks cost us twelve cloths, as 
I was told that I had encroached on sacred ground. 
Eats, bugs, and musquitoes seldom gave us trouble. 
During rain, frogs and crickets were deafening. In- 
sects and white ants (eaten by natives) seemed to enjoy 
themselves by attacking us and the candle at night ; 
and small yellow butterflies, apple-green underneath, 
fluttered in suspense over the edges of little puddles. 

Of birds of song there were remarkably few : a 
species of lark on the coast had a short sweet note. 
Of game-birds, the ordinary guinea-fowl, weighing 
3^ to 3^ lb., was the most common, and ate deli- 



BIRDS AND TRAPS. 37 

cionsly after being kept two days. Early in the 
morning they roost lazily in tall trees, and in the 
evening they may be found near cultivations, chas- 
ing insects or grubbing up sweet potato. We killed 
one rare species, red round the eyes and on the throat, 
having a standing-up purple collar of loose skin, a 
ridge of ostrich-like black feathers from the back of the 
head to the nostrils, weight about 3 lb., and in running 
it seemed to have a more compressed body than the 
ordinary species. There is something peculiar about 
the shape of the " merry-thought,^' which differs from 
that of a fowl. The best-flavoured bird we found was 
the florikan, which has a rough gritty call ; but few 
were shot, as they were extremely shy. Green pigeons 
are handsome, and after they have fed on the wild 
fig, no bird looks plumper on the table. Rock-pigeon, 
snipe, quail, plover, and several species of partridge, 
we shot occasionally ; also a very pretty species of pin- 
tailed dove found in Ugogo. Pigeons, generally white, 
and not differing from those at home, are sometimes 
kept as pets by the villagers. Of ostrich we saw only 
one gang on the bare plains of Ugogo, where the 
natives make handsome wreaths of their plumes ; and 
among the other birds seen were crested cranes, hawks, 
a solitary raven or two, a few parrots, but scarcely 
any crows. The natives capture all these beasts and 
birds by means of pitfalls and nooses. The former are 
cut like a wedge, most disagreeable to look down upon, 
eight feet deep, and but one foot across the top, which 
is coyly covered over. The nooses were formed of an 
elastic bough, stripped of its branches, with the noose 
hung perpendicularly, neatly concealed and placed in 
an antelope-frequented track. Diminutive traps were 



38 FISH-CATCHING. 

set for partridge, quail, kc; and if intended for soar- 
ing birds, the noose is laid on the ground horizontally. 
The animals are struck with spears and killed, and are 
eaten by all ; while the tendons are made into bow- 
strings, the horns used as charms, and the skins rudely 
dressed for wear. 

Fish are rarely met with. On the coast, women 
standing in a circle up to their waists in the sea use 
their cloths as nets, and encircle small fish. Stake- 
nets in the form of the letter U, turned in at the apices, 
were seen. In the interior, upon the clear, gravel- 
bottomed river M'gazee, a party of fishers were seen 
wading down the stream, the men leading with hand- 
nets, while boys in their rear thrust spears into the 
holes in the banks. A number of slimy-looking fish, 
18 to 20 inches long, had been caught, and were slung 
by their heads to a cord tied round the waist, sur- 
rounding the wearer like a Highland kilt. 
The four native races were as follows : — 
I. The Wazaramo. — ^A smart, dressy (though nearly 
naked), well -to -do -looking people, with a most self- 
possessed air, and fond of ornaments in beads, sea- 
shells, or tin. Their heads are covered with wool, 
elongated with bark fibre into hanks, and their bodies 
smeared with an oily pomade of red clay, which soon 
soils their only covering — a cloth wrapped round the 
loins. The dress of the women is slightly longer, but 
they leave the neck and chest uncovered. Their arms 
are spears, and bows and arrows, with a few flint-guns. 
As they do not allow strangers to camp within their 
villages, we saw few houses, but those into which we 
were admitted were very tidy, with mud-and- wattle 
walls and thatched roofe. The appearance of these 



WAZARAMO VILLAGEBS. 39 

people was prepossessing. The attentions of the men 
to their women were very marked. A man might be 
seen in a field performing the office of hair-dresser to 
his lady-love ; or, spear in hand, he would join a party 
of women going to draw water, pitcher on head, and 
escort them lest any of our camp should fall upon, steal, 
or seduce them away. A very pretty girl and her beau 
were coaxed to sit for their likenesses, and went away 
with a smile ; but two hideous old women screeched 
at the pitch of their voices because they got but one 
necklace of beads as payment for sitting before the 
camera. This partly exhibits the boisterous nature 
of the people : they killed a European named M. 
Maizan, and I have no doubt that it was only the 
warning guns fired by our Belooch guard every night 
that prevented an attack, for which, however, we were 
not unprepared. 

The villagers en route turned out to see the white 
men ; amongst them, during a single march, we saw 
two albinos^ one of whom had black woolly hair. 
Again, of an afternoon, we considered it an extxaor- 
dinary occurrence if our camp was not thronged by 
people, curious and well-conducted, some bringing 
their produce to barter. Women would sit at our 
tent-doors suckling their infants while cracking jokes 
at our expense. We saw no places of burial, but by 
the roadside the skeleton of a traveller lay; and also 
at other places single tombs, with large dolls of wood 
or some broken bowls of delf, standing as immortelles 
at one end of the graves, which were those of Seedees 
firom Zanzibar. The only superstitious observance we 
noticed was in a field at the foot of a tree ; a grass 
model of a hut was erected for the rain-god, as our 



40 SPORTING COUNTRY. 

men told me, and called, as usual, a " M'ganga." The 
worst features in this Wazaramo race are, that they will 
give travellers no aid, and will pounce upon stray men. 
They are polygamists; their only faith is belief in 
the "black art;" and though residing on the borders of 
ciAolisation, they have no curiosity or ambition. 

II. Tlie Wasagara population live such an outcast 
life on the tops of their conical hills, above the path 
of the traveller, that we saw little of their manners or 
customs. Parties from the coast attack them, to cap- 
ture their people and cattle ; and as we were considered 
of tliis class, our followers had great difficulty in getting 
supplies. We also suffered from a set of coast slave- 
hunters, who gave orders that we were not to be sup- 
plied with anything, because we had come into the 
country to put down slavery. However, it being a 
sporting countr}'', we were more or less independent 
Guides were got with difficulty, but a short, sharp 
fellow took me over a very fine range of stream- 
beds and shady spots for buffalo and rhinoceros, 
showing great cleverness and intelligence as a tracker. 
We met with nothing but beds of lilac convolvulus 
in the woods. My guide's chat, and his archery at a 
leaf ten paces off*, beguiled the time very agreeably. 
He made me laugh at lus sultan, Senga, who had four- 
teen T^ives ; but he himself, he said, could not maiTy 
until his present wardrobe was increased, it consisting 
only of what he then wore — ^a rag round lus loins. 

III. The Wagogo. — We did not enter their oblong, 
walled villages, but I have a distinct and vivid recol- 
lection of the people. Among them were smart, wiry, 
active young fellows, who would make first-rate re- 
cruits. Their woolly hair, elongated by working into it 



INQUISITIVENESS OF THE PEOPLE, 41 

hanks of bark fibre, flew in the air as they ran ; beads 
were at times strung on, or an ostrich-feather waved 
about their heads ; their ear-lobes were distended by 
a plug of wood, &c. Their arms were five-feet-long 
spears, knobsticks, and oblong shields of leather ; dress 
generally a small loin-cloth. With a gourd cup they 
drew water from their wells and filled it into earthen 
"gurahs." simUar to those in India. Women carried 
their children on their backs in a skin, with cross 
supporting-straps ; and boys brought music out of a 
stringed bow attached to a gourd as sounding-board. 
We were so mobbed by the people in camp that a ring 
of rope had to be placed roimd our tents ; but this 
only increased their inquisitiveness. When told to go 
away, and not keep peeping under the canvass of our 
closed-up tents, they laughed, telling us the ground 
we pitched upon was theirs, and that they could take 
our gims and property from us if they chose. A 
porter of ours accidentally broke one of their bows ; 
this was immediately turned to account, and a demand 
made for something ten times its value. I shot a liz- 
ard at some curiously outcropping rocks, and was told 
I had hurt their feehngs, and must pay for my folly. 
Previously to firing I had thought of the Indian super- 
stition as to sacred spots and marks, and examined the 
place well ; but seeing no trace of them, I reckoned 
this fine had no connection with any such traditions, 
but was knowingly imposed on us in the way of ex- 
tortion. They told us we must not have lights out at 
night-aJluding to Speke making his observations. 
Like all Africans, if they gave us any information a 
present had to follow. The settlement of the tax was a 
most harassing afiair. The sultan, after receiving all 



42 THE WANYAMUEZI, 

he had demanded, said the cloths were not suitable to 
his rank — " you have better ones than you gave me, 
and my head wife must get some." In short, he so 
bullied us by threats of attack that our main stand-by 
of porters, 113 "Wezees," were frightened into the 
dastardly act of deserting us at the most critical part 
of the journey. 

IV. WanyamuezL — The 115 porters we left the sea- 
port with were of the class of the Wanyamuezi, and 
we had good opportunity for observing their habits 
and character. They were average-sized, slim-limbed 
negroes, many of them with handsome countenances 
and incisions of caste above the cheek-bones; they 
were di-essed in goat-skins hanging loosely in their fix)nt 
from the right shoulder ; most of them with a shabby 
small bow and a couple of arrows; a few of the better 
sort had flint-guns, which they carried awkwardly at 
the long "trail," and pointing to the men behind them. 

They are frank and amiable on first acquaintance, 
eating or taking anything from your hand, singing 
the j oiliest of songs with deep-toned choruses frx)m 
their thick necks and throats, but soon tr3dng to get 
the upper hand, refusing to make the ring-fence 
round camp, showing sulks, making halts, or going 
short marches, treating with perfect contempt any 
message sent them even to sit apart from your tent, 
as the smoke of their fires, the odour of their persons, 
and their total want of delicacy annoy you. All 
these grievances my companion bore with great 
patience, and often got the offenders into humour by 
suggesting a harangue at nighty to be delivered by 
their captain. On an animal being cut up into shares 
one day, they so far forgot themselves as to dash 



THEIR WOMEN. 43 

upon it with the utmost rapidity, and bore off the 
whole from our Zanzibar men, who were left in vacant 
amazement without redress. On killing a goat, I ob- 
served they never spilt a drop of blood, but smashed 
its head with a stick or stone. Out shooting they 
were invaluable as guides, first-rate spoorers, and 
never at a loss for anything : a pipe would be made 
by putting a grit of clay an inch or so into the end of 
a tube of bark. "Duncan's smoking mixture'' they 
preferred stuffing as far as possible up their noses. 
When an animal was shot they always stole the fat. 
They had extraordinary knowledge of edible roots 
and herbs, and under ahnost any circumstances would 
not starve. They had no particular superstitions or 
sacred days, either in the week or year. They were 
intelligent and amusing enough, but had no claim to 
honour or honesty — 113 of them, although handsomely 
paid, deserted us, carrying away a considerable quan- 
tity of property. Perhaps they treated us in this way 
in consequence of having been badly paid by Arab 
traders on former occasions. 

A few of their women accompanied us: quiet, 
decent, well-conducted, tidy creatures, generally carry- 
ing a child each on their backs, a small stool and et 
ceteras on their heads, and inveterately smoking during 
the march. They would prepare some savoury dish of 
herbs for their men on geLig into camp, where they 
lived in bell-shaped erections made with boughs of 
trees. 



CHAPTER IV. 



SOJOURN AT KAZEH, LAT. 5* S., LOXG. 33*' E. — rRO\TXCE OF 
UNYAXYEMBE — CHOPS, CATTLE, ETC. — MOOSSAH, AX INDIAN 
TR^VDER, HIS WIVES, ATTENDANTS, AND COWHERDS — THE 
WATUSI — DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF WAR — MOOSSAll'S 
ACCOUNT OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM. 



We were delayed here for fifty-one days on account 
of the falling rains, the flooded state of the river 
ahead, and the impossibility of getting porters to 
move at such a season, when grain was not procur- 
able. Our arrival was hailed with great delight 
Moossah, an excellent friend of Speke's, several 
Arabs and many followers, all in holiday attire, came 
out a mile to welcome our ragged - looking Indian 
file. Guns were fired, yambos and salaams with 
shaking of hands followed, and we were lodged once 
more under a hospitable roof. 

The country is surrounded by low bare hills, which 
every morning till eight or nine were obscured by an 
unhealthy coloured mist, filling the wide valley where 
we lay. There was nothing to cheer the eye — no 
river, no trees : it reminded Spoke of the Crimea. Rills 
ran here and there through grass, and opened out on 



REMEDIES FOR FEVER. 45 

white sand : one of these, collecting in a pool, formed 
the drinking water of the inhabitants. Scarcely a 
man amongst us escaped fever. We arrived on the 
25th of January, and by the 1st February several 
were laid up. My first attack lasted seven days, the 
2d, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 8th terminating in headaches 
every morning. After twelve days another sharper 
attack, with delirium at night, but no ague, lasted 
three days. The third and least severe came on fifteen 
days afterwards, with drowsiness and profuse perspira- 
tion, and terminated in three days. All suffered j&x)m 
after-weakness in the limbs; some from blindness of 
one eye, the eyehd much inflamed and drooping, 
accompanied with excessive watering; or no inflam- 
mation of the eye, but total blindness of it, and no 
disease or scale observable. Acute pain rarely accom- 
panied this complaint. Our men ascribed their bad 
health to not having got accustomed to the water of 
the coimtry. The natives had no efl&cient remedies 
for preventing the recurrence of fever, but took 
pinches of a pounded plant or wood to cure their 
headaches, or cupped themselves in the following 
curious manner: A man put some beeswax into his 
mouth, applied a small coVs horn to cuts made in the 
temple of the patient, exhausted the air by suction, and 
with his tongue shut the hole at the end of the horn 
with the wax. We had only one fatal case. Quinine 
and applications of blistering tissue behind the ear 
and on the temples partially restored health and eye- 
sight During our stay the prevalent winds were the 
E., N.E., and S.E., but the coldest were the west- 
erly after rain. The mornings were foggy, the grass 
dripped with the night -dew, which interfered with 



46 CLIMATE AND AGRICULTURE. 

« 

Speke's observation of the stars by dimming the 
instruments. The days were often dark and hazy; 
pelting showers beat down from the N.W., but we 
sometimes had a fresh English morning, with a clear 
sky, a N.E. wind, and temperature only 69*" at 9 A.M. 
We had no striking or beautiful sunsets like the equa- 
torial at sea, but in the evening the flowering grasses, 
gorgeously lit up by the rays of the setting sun, had 
a singularly fine effect ; and such evenings were often 
followed by a few dry days, and a temperature of 82^ 
This hot weather occurred when, at the short twilight, 
the sun appeared to set in the east, and the whole sky 
was an arched illumination. On an average we had 
rain two-fifths of the time we halted, and the greatest 
fall noted in twenty-four hours was two inches. These 
African rains we did not find followed by the dis- 
agreeable steamy or muggy feeling experienced in 
India ; all was cool and fresh after them. We had 
thunder and lightning, but rain did not always follow. 
This province of Unyanyembe has nearly four 
months of rain, commencing in the end of November, 
and winding up with the greatest fall in February. 
As soon as the soil of sand, or black spongy mould, 
haa softened, the seed is dropped, and by the 1st of 
February all is as green as an emerald. The young 
rice has to struggle for fifteen days against the depre- 
dations of a small black caterpillar, green underneath. 
It is a precarious time for the agriculturist ; for if rain 
does not fall the crop is lost, being eaten close by this 
insect Women walk in the fields, with small hand- 
picks, loosening the soil, clearing it of weeds and 
worms. There is only one crop in the year, and all 
the cereals known in Zanzibar are grown here. Cotton 



SUBURBS OF UNYANYEMBE. 47 

was considered by an Indian resident to be as fine as 
that grown in Kutch, but he said they had no use for 
it, merely burning it as wicks. As the previous year's 
com had been consumed, the poorer classes gathered 
the heads of a wild grass {Dactyloctum ^gyptiucum), 
and prepared it for stirabout by sun-drying, beating 
on the rocks, and rubbing it into flour on their flag- 
stones. They also fed upon mushrooms, growing 
amongst the rank " dub" grass, after drying, roasting, 
and peeling them. They were five inches in diameter, 
and sienna-coloured. Another variety was white, and 
half the size. All the cattle and goats in the coimtry 
seemed to have foimd their way into the folds of the 
Arabs, and had been captured in a war still going on 
between them and the native population. The sur- 
rounding country is devoid of game, but within a long 
day's march a forest was visited, where various ante- 
lopes, giraffes, lions, and a few elephants might be met 
with along the valley of the Wallah river. The scales 
of an armadillo were seen worn as a charm, three 
inches across, and striated or lined at one end. Our 
men had a superstition that the person who foimd a 
live armadillo would become a king — ^meaning, I im- 
agine, that it was so rare. However, we came upon a 
pet one at 3* N. latitude. About the cultivations near 
the village no singing-birds are ever heard, but the 
plumage of those seen is often very brilliant Flocks 
of beautiful little birds, with black bodies, golden- 
tinted scarlet heads and backs, pecked at the ears of 
com ; or in the rice-fields the favourite of the Cape 
farmers, the " locust bird,'* black, and looking like a 
curlew when walking, went tamely about. Crows, 
with a ring of white round the neck, were seen in twos 



48 MOOSSAH, AS INDIAN TKADER. 

and threes. The matting in the houses was full of 
bugs, or ticks, which pestered one while seated at 
night, causing considerable irritation^ 

It is not a country for ivory, the natives seldom if 
ever bringing any for sale. Grain was so scarce that 
slaves could be purchased for tvio fathoms of calico. 
One day a naked native passed us in charge of three 
Seedees armed with spears. They had found him 
stealing, and offered him for sale. No one would pur- 
chase him, and he was taken to the sultan, who woidd, 
as jSIoossah said, either spear him, keep him as a slave, 
or allow him to be sold. Slaves from the northern 
kingdoms of Uganda, &c., were considered the most 
valuable, just in the same way as many persons con- 
sider a country girl the best ser\'ant. They were held 
to be more trustworthy than men from the coast, made 
excellent servants, and were famous at killing or cap- 
turing wild animals. The most esteemed women were 
of the Wahumah tribe j&x)m Karague ; they resembled 
the Abyssinians. 

Let me give the reader some idea of our life here. 
Moossah, an Indian in whose house we resided, was 
a fine benevolent old man, with an establishment of 
300 native men and women round him. His abode 
had, three years ago, taken two months to build, and 
it was surrounded by a circular wall which enclosed 
his houses, fruit and vegetable gardens, and his stock 
of cattle. The lady who presided over the whole 
was of most portly dimensions, and her word was law. 
Moossah sat from mom till night with his " foondee," 
or chief manager, and other head servants within sight, 
receiving salutes and compliments from the rich and 
poor at the fix>nt or gentlevien's side of the house. 



moossah's household at KAZEH. 49 

while the lady presided over the domestic axrange- 
ments of the interior. We had full access to both, and 
no house could be conducted with greater regularity. 
At three o'clock in the morning, Moossah, who had 
led a hard life in his day, would call out for his little 
pill of opium, which he never missed for forty years. 
This would brighten him up till noon. He would then 
transact business, chat, and give you the gossip at any 
hour you might sit by him on his carpet. To us it 
seemed strange that he never stopped talking when 
prayers irom the Koran were being read to him by a 
"Bookeen," or Madagascar man. Perhaps he had 
little respect for the ofl&ciating priest, as the same 
reverend and learned gentleman was accustomed to 
make him his shirts ! After a mid-day sleep, he would 
refresh himself with a second but larger pill, transact 
business, and so end the day. The harem department 
presented a more domestic scene. At dawn, women 
in robes of coloured chintz, their hair neatly plaited, 
gave fresh milk to the swarm of black cats, or churned 
butter in gourds by rocking it to and fro on their laps. 
By seven o'clock the whole place was swept clean. 
Some of the household fed the game-fowls, or looked 
after the ducks and pigeons ; two women chained by 
the neck fetched firewood, or ground com at a stone ; 
children would eat together without dispute, because 
a matron presided over them ; — ^all were quiet, indus- 
trious beings, never idle, and as happy as the day was 
long. When any of Moossah^s wives gave birth to a 
child there was universal rejoicing; the infant was 
brought to show its sex : and when one died, the 
shrill laments of the women were heard all night long. 

When a child misbehaved, we white men were pointed 

* 

D 



50 moossah's head keeper. 

at to frighten it, as nurses at home too often do with 
ghost stories. 

The most important ftmctionary about this court 
was the head keeper or foondee, who had been a 
slave all his life, and now possessed a village with a 
farm and cattle. His daily duty was to sit within 
sight of his master. On Speke calling to see his col- 
lection of horns, and extract a bullet from the leg of 
one of his slaves, the foondee made us heartily wel- 
come. Stools were placed, and in gratitude for the 
operation he produced some ripe plantain, and showed 
us about his premises. He also took us to one of his 
favourite shooting-grounds, where he certainly knew 
how to make himself comfortable. His servants had 
constructed for him a most luxurious waterproof hut 
with broad stripes of freshly-cut bark, and a capital 
bedstead of boughs. At night five fires were kept 
burning round him to keep oflF the musquitoes. The 
grate was most original : three stout pegs of green 
wood driven into the ground, forming an equilateral 
triangle, answered every purpose of an iron utensil, 
and on it a frying-pan, made of bark, frizzled mush- 
rooms and meat to the chief's satisfaction. By his 
own account, he had shot many a lion from trees ; and 
during the march to and from Zanzibar with his mas- 
ter's property, he, with a staff of under-keepers, used 
to supply the porters with rations from wild animals, 
which plan saved the expenditure of bead -money. 
He had many sporting stories. The lion, he said, 
seldom killed men ; but, not long ago, one had jumped 
the wall of the building and kiUed five cows, two of 
which he dragged over the wall — ^the natives fearing 
to impede his course. 



moossah's watusi cowheeds. 51 

Moossah's cowherds were a very interesting set of 
people — so well-featured, tall, and generally superior 
to the Africans, that I took great interest in them. 
They were Watusi from Karague. There were ten 
men and women, all with woolly hair — the men leav- 
ing a crescent of it unshaved. Their gums were 
blackened with a preparation from the tamarind-seed, 
powdered, roasted, and mixed into a paste with blue 
vitriol, and afterwards heated until fit for use. Their 
ornaments were large solid rings of brass upon the 
wrists, and iron rings, in masses, on their ankles. In 
walking they carried a bow and arrow, a staff, and long- 
stemmed pipe. The women were of a large stamp, 
with fine oval faces and erect figures, clad in well- 
dressed cow-skin from above their waists to their small 
feet. Their huts were quite different from any we 
had seen, being shaped like the half of an orange, and 
only five feet high, made of boughs, and covered with 
grass very neatly. There was but one door ; the hut 
had no chimney, the smoke finding its way through 
the light grass roof. I observed a portable Indian 
" choolah " or fireplace inside the hut, which was kept 
tidily floored with hay. 

These Watusi are a curious and distinct race. Pre- 
vious to milking the cows in the morning, they wash 
themselves, their teeth, and their wooden milk-ves- 
sels or gourds with the urine of the animal, as they 
consider there is some virtue in it, afterwards using 
fresh water for cleansing. They are allowed half the 
milk, and Moossah had his half milked into his own 
clean vessels in the morning at eight o'clock. It took 
the milk of two cows to fill one good-sized tin teapot 
A coVs value was four or five dollars, though a first 



52 WATUSI MODE OF SALXTTATION. 

class one would cost double, or £2. Men milked them 
into a large crucible of wood or gourd in an open 
yard; the hind-legs were tied above the hocks with a 
thong of leather ; one of their handsome women sat 
on the other side with a bough beating off the flies, and 
with a stick to keep away the calf which stood at its 
mother's head, a boy sometimes assisting. Should the 
calf die, its skin is stuffed and placed before the cow, 
otherwise she refuses her milk. The Wanyamuezi look 
with great respect on this people. When two of them 
meet, the Wezee puts both his palms together, these 
are gently clasped by the Watusi, a few inaudible 
words are repeated, and they pass on. The form of 
salutation when a Watusi meets one of his women 
senior to himself is gentle and pleasing ; he places his 
hands on her arms below her shoulders, while her 
hands hang by her side. 

The way in which an African leads a goat or cow 
is different from the manner in this country. The 
fore-leg of the goat is held up by the man, who walks 
briskly along as if he led a child. An unruly cow is 
never tied by the head : a man walks behind it, hav- 
ing hold of a rope tied tightly round its hock ; this 
plan seems to subdue or Rareyfy the animal most com- 
pletely. For several days after our arrival, different 
Arab residents sent us presents of eggs, some coffee, a 
fatted cow, rice, or a goat — a very pleasing custom, 
which was intended as their call upon us. We in 
return sent each a handsome cloth, which they valued 
very much. This friendly ceremony over, they freely 
asked our advice when necessary. 

For two years, since the death of the chief of the 
country, the people of Kazeh had been fighting against 



DEATH OF SNAY, AN ARAB CHIEF. 53 

the real heir to uphold the puppet appointed by them 
in his stead. They had killed 300 natives, seized all 
their cattle and goats, and lost two Arabs and sixty 
slaves. A severe defeat occurred while we were there, 
Snay, the chief Arab, and six others, with followers, 
being killed. A panic ensued, and Speke was requested 
to patch up a peace by inviting the rebel Manua Sera 
into Kazeh to attend a conference. "Once," they 
said, " at our mercy, we can murder him 1 " We were 
shocked at hearing this, but Moossah assured us that it 
was no uncommon occurrence with them. The news 
of their defeat was brought us by a man who may be 
allowed to tell his own story : — " I was one of five in 
charge of cattle ; the rebel himself killed three of us; 
and as I never fight, but run, I threw away every- 
thing, and saved my life by coming here." He had a 
very good sword by him. " Where did you get that 
sword?" "Ohl it belongs to an Arab who was 
killed ; I picked it up." 

It seems that Snay was a very brave fellow, who 
in the midst of every fight whipped his slaves to pre- 
vent them from running away; but this time they 
got dispersed after plunder: he was left unprotected; 
and being old and too proud to run Hke his slaves, 
he fell a victim. After this severe defeat many 
plans were proposed for affording reUef. "The 
single cannon must be sent in the morning." Moos- 
sah was tired of assisting them. " The Arabs stick at 
nothing; they had expended twenty barrels of his gun- 
powder and lost him five slaves ; a beautiful gun of his 
was lost by his late partner Jaffir in this last fight. 
Jaffir had just been killed, and yet they still ask for 
aid 1 " So with true Indian parsimony he despatched 



54 DEPOPULATION FROM WAR. 

five slaves to the war, with only ten rounds of 
wrought-iron bullets each, to fight the powerful rebel 
chief! 

This long-continued war had driven the natives of 
the country away from the Arab settlement ; the 
bazaar supplied almost nothing — only one tobacco- 
shop and one or two depots for grain ; the most com- 
mon iron-work could not be made. The villages 
around had no inhabitants but the sick, aged, djdng, 
and starving, or idiots. We were told not to walk out 
alone, as a man had been killed the previous month; 
the country had been made dangerous, and the people 
were getting exterminated. But when one of our 
men cut through his hut and ran away one night, 
having been suspected of theft, Moossah said with 
confidence, " The Wezees will not harm him, neither 
will they give him shelter ; hell be found ; " and so 
he was, rifle and bayonet untouched. All the natives 
were Hywans — that is, unable to count, write, or 
tell their own ages. Some practised medicine, giving 
one of our men, who sufiered from weakness in the 
limbs after fever, a black ointment made of roots. 
The black art of the Damars and the chipping of the 
Oovamba's teeth are practised here, as noticed in An- 
dersson's Travels. During the illness of the late chief, 
witchcraft was suspected to be the cause. A fowl was 
placed in the hands of the suspected, dissected by a 
seer, and verdict given accordingly. Similar fancies, 
differing only a little in detail, long prevailed in the 
Highlands of Scotland, a very common form being to 
bury a black fowl in the exact spot where a person 
had been first seized with illness. Moossah had never 
heard of fowls being thrown up in the air to discover 



MOOSSAH S ACCOUNT OF KARAGUE AND UGANDA. 55 

the sorcerer ; and but one woman was killed to be 
placed in the grave with the old king. 

Our exploration of the northern kingdoms enabled 
us to ascertain how far the mass of information 
gleaned from our good friend Moossah was correct 
I can honestly say that, though he had never visited 
Uganda,* his hearsay, on the whole, was a marvel 
of accuracy: — "The Egyptian river flowed from the 
Lake Nyanza. Copper and gold are found in Uganda. 
[We discovered neither, however.] The king alone 
wears clothes, killing all others who do so. He keeps 
daves, and has 3000 women. The people have 100 
each, and the youngest fellow 10 to 20, whom they 
steal or kidnap in war. The Karague people live en- 
tirely on milk diet, yet they are men fit for war. 
M'tezia, the king of Uganda, is a ' boorra admi,^ bad 
man; but being great friends with Kumanika (of 
Karague), he will send you from 300 to 400 men to 
escort you. Smallpox is rife in Uganda yearly. The 
king has Zanzibar guns. At Uganda and Karague the 
sultans do not, as in other countries, claim one tusk of 
the killed elephant. Karague people carry about grog 
in calabashes; one sort being an intoxicating, fiery 
liquor, the other mild and good. Khinoceros (white) 
are numerous. The king of Uganda makes people 
kneel in front of him, commanding them not to expose 
their skin or feet before his 400 or 500 women. The 
reed-grass hute of Karague and Uganda are so high 
that strong fires may be burned in them. Musicians 
of every sort there; king has five clocks sent him 

* At Kazeh I understood that Moossah had never traveUed fiorther 
than Karague ; but I observe that Speke, in his Journal, states that 
Moossah (or " Musa," as he writes the name) had reached Uganda^ 



66 DEPARTURE FROM KAZEH. 

from KazeL At Karague they have three crops yearly 
of murwa and sorghum. King of Uganda has a 
menagerie of 200 wild buffaloes; will give as many 
cheetah (leopard) skins as you like. The Wa- 
humah of Karague have the most enormous arms, 
bodies, and legs ; cannot walk ; always rest on their 
elbows and knees ; hands and feet very small ; good 
noses and fair skins. Karague sultan cannot write, 
but sends a string of bark-cloth with knots upon it 
corresponding with the number of elephant-tusks sent" 
All this exciting information made us eager for a 
move, but Moossah kept delaying. However, by the 
middle of March we had finished maps from observa- 
tions, made collections, boiled thermometers, inspected 
newly-purchased presents for the kings ahead, sketched, 
written reports and letters to wait any chance oppor- 
tunity for the coast, and recovered from sickness. The 
rivers would soon be fordable, and a fourth of our 
porters had arrived; the remainder dreaded coming 
to us, as war was waging. We pitched camp on the 
15th, and marched north without Moossah on the 
16 th March 1861, leaving the bulk of our kit be- 
hind, in charge of Bombay. In return for Moossah's 
hospitality, Speke gave him five hundred dollars 
and a beautifully chased gold watch made to order by 
M'Cabe. We experienced one great privation here, 
never receiving letters from home ; but, odd enough, 
those despatched by us reached their destination. 



CHAPTER V. 

JOUENEY TO UKUia — DIFPI0ULTIE8 AT STABTING — ^PICTURESQUB 
CX)UNTRY — ATTACKS OF FEVER — TREES AND FRTHT — MODE 
OF MAEING BARK-CLOTH — NATURAL HISTORY — NATIVE CLUB- 
HOUSE — ^DANCES AND GAMES — DESCRIPTION OF A SULTAN — 
WOMEN OF THE COUNTRY — SLAVES IN IRONS — RELEASE OF A 
SLAVE — NATIVE COOKERY — THE NEGRO ON PARADE. 

However great was our desire to push on with the 
journey, we could not impress the AJfricans with this 
feeling. Porters would be ordered, and two days after- 
wards you found no one had gone for them. A general 
panic had seized the natives that the plundering Wa- 
tuta race were on the wing. The villages to the north 
were busy making defences, or a report had reached 
them that the Arabs had killed two of their clan; 
how, therefore, could they take service with us^ who 
might do the same ? Everything seemed to be against 
us ; they would accept no bribe. None of the slaves 
of the Arabs would take service, though offered it, 
first by Baraka^ and then by Speke in person, who 
walked 80 miles to induce them to accompany us. 
Ultimately we moved off by detachments, and accom- 
plished 90 miles, with 110 men*s loads, in 75 days. 



58 ROUTE TO MINEENGA. 

To describe this country and its inhabitants, I devote 
the present chapter. 

The whole route waa fine ; never once did we lose 
sight of trees, wooded hills, or valleys, while water was 
everywhere abundant The forest was what might be 
called " Donkey or Zebra forest" — bare-poled trees and 
no underwood. The hills, now close, now distant, 
were richly clothed and exceedingly graceful, remind- 
ing me of the Trosachs. Grey rocks looked out in 
fantastic shai)es from amongst the trees. Huge blocks 
lay one over the other, or abruptly ended a range of 
hill. The valleys had been cleared by the axe, the 
wild grasses were most luxuriant, and palisaded vil- 
lages were often met with. We had not to leave the 
path in order to pluck the Indian com. Our way led 
from one valley to another, or threaded the green forest, 
which rang with the songs of our followers. Gene- 
rally the road was of fine sand, which, when lately 
washed by the rains, was loose and yellow. Once it 
crossed a quicksand, the only one I recollect seeing in 
Africa-very shaky a^d wateiy-along which a pateh 
of rice grew. Two streams running west were forded ; 
the Gombe, twenty yards across, there only 4^ feet 
deep — and with no current, merely a gentle flow of 
mud-coloured water ; its banks well wooded and shelv- 
ing: our men shouldered us across, but there were 
some rickety canoes made of bark lying on the left 
bank. The other we crossed at night in two channels 
running also west, but said to be dry one half of the 
year, although now it was breast-deep, with a current 
that nearly bore me down in my weak state. Attacks 
of fever came on about every tenth day, lasting 
eight and ten hours, with from two to five days of 



CAPE RIFLEMEN OBLIGED TO RETURN. 59 

nausea and fevered brain. Speke, who had been so 
long in Africa, was not subject to them, but our men 
were constantly laid up. One died, and the poor Cape 
riflemen were such martyrs to fevers and sore eyes, 
that they confessed they could not stand the hardships 
of the journey, and were sent back to Kazeh, saying 
they were sorry they had come so far. We were told 
that smallpox was the most fatal disease in this part 
of the country, but we saw no cases. The general 
elevation of the country is 3400 feet, rising gently up 
to the low ranges of hills everywhere around. It is 
more open than Unyanyembe. Mists rarely lie, except 
on the hill-tops after rain. The greatest fall measured 
was three-fourths of an inch in half an hour, after a 
storm, which burst overhead with fearful concussions 
of thunder at 3 p.m. of the 13th April This may be 
described as the grand Jinale to the rainy season. 
Every morning the dews lay heavily, and a S.E. wind 
blew, but the coolest breeze was when from S. by W. 
The daily temperature inside a hut was 78** to SO** at 
1 P.M. During the day the sky was generally clear, 
with a fierce sun ; but the air in the mornings and 
evenings was deliciously cool, a fire at night being 
cheery and comfortable. No dust-storms troubled 
us, otherwise the open huts would have been unin- 
habitable. Drinking water was always sweet and 
refreshing. At Mineenga a copious spring gushed 
out of the shell of a tree lying level with the 
earth in the centre of a rice-field. This was the well 
of the village ; from its position it was considered a 
phenomenon, and was looked on with veneration, as 
it afforded cool water the whole year round — ^a rare 
blessing. 



60 FLORA OF MINEENOA. 

The flora was new and interesting; but we were 
amazed at not seeing better crops, as grasses with 
pendent panicles grew luxuriantly ten feet high. The 
surface-soil, however, was very light — merely the wash- 
ings of the hill-sides brought down in a stream of red 
clay grit In this tract of country we came upon 
groups of palms, not met with since we left the coast : 
they were converted into many uses — fences, thatching, 
firewood, and uprights for building, &c. Toddy also 
was occasionally extracted. The fruit hung down in 
rich, large, tempting clusters, at the mercy of any 
hungry traveller. We observed several of these palms, 
with their leaf-stalks still remaining on the tree, to 
be the support and life of a species of ficus, growing 
like a parasite, luxuriantly healthy, its roots not near 
the ground, but forming a complete network round 
the stem of the palm. Tamarind-trees, so umbrageous 
and beautiful in outline, were numerous. There was 
also the rumex, from ten to twelve feet high ; and the 
tree, a ficus, whose bark affords the Waganda their 
clothing, was here seen for the first time. The bark is 
taken off in stripes, according to the size they can get 
it, then damped and beaten by heavy wooden hammers 
till pliant, and afterwards sewn into a sheet the colour 
of chamois-leather, but much thicker ; the outer bark 
is thrown away. Near the villages a few scrubby 
bushes of cotton were grown upon mounds made by 
white ants. Looms of the rudest construction con- 
verted the produce of these into a hard, very stout^ 
heavy cloth, about four or five feet in size, with one- 
fourth of it a black border, and worn by women only. 
Sessamum grew in ridges with the sorghum; its oU, 
and that extracted from the ground-nut, being used 



HARVEST SCENE. 61 

by the natives for smearing themselves from head to 
foot, giving their skins a handsome colour, like the 
gloss on polished marble. To vary the colour, some 
red clay is added. The sorghum is sometimes affected 
with a black blight, but the natives do not think this 
any deterioration; all goes into the mill. They live 
upon Indian com, ulezee, and sorghum, made into 
flour by rubbing the grains between stones as a house- 
painter pounds colours. Their vegetables are sweet 
potato, and the leaves, flowers, and fruits of pumpkins; 
and they brought us daily ground-nuts, tobacco, and 
fowls for sale. On the 3d of April the rice-harvest 
was being gathered in; but we perceived no traces 
of irrigation as in Egypt Abundant rains gave an 
ample crop. The reapers consisted of negro women 
and girls, who sang pleasantly, though the scene was 
marred by the sight of a gang of men-slaves, heavily 
ironed together by their necks, with some superinten- 
dents, gleaning. Those who had small knives cut the 
stalk four or five inches below the grain, and held it 
in their left hand till the hand was full, when it was 
placed ia a huge tub of bai-k lyiQg in the field. In 
this way a three-feet-high stubble was left standing, 
to be trodden down by cattle. The thrashing of the 
rice was novel. A quantity of ears was placed upon a 
coVs hide, slaves ia irons were made to work it with 
their toes and feet, and winnow it in the wind; and 
after being thoroughly sun-dried upon a clear space of 
cow-dunged ground, it was fit for the process of shell- 
ing in the large pestle and mortar. If a considerable 
amount was to be thrashed, a bludgeon answered the 
purpose of the negroes' feet The stubble would after- 
wards be turned over with powerful long-handled hoes. 



62 PRICE OF PROVISIONS, 

beds of the soil made, and the suckers or offshoots of 
the sweet potato planted there by bands of twenty 
or thirty villagers, shouting and singing the whole time. 
K our Seedees had to clean rice in the wooden mortar, a 
dozen hands would set about the work of two. It could 
not be done without those who worked beating time 
with the pestle to their song, the lookers-on clapping 
hands and stamping with their feet The work and 
song never ceased till the rice was pounded almost 
into dust — such joyous, reckless creatures are these 
simple Africans ! Yams are grown upon mounds of 
earth placed all over a field, the branches of the plant 
trained up a stick, or more commonly allowed to crawl 
over the ground. They do not attain a great growth. 
Grain is housed under the eaves of stack-shaped huts, 
or a clustered mass of Indian com may be seen sus- 
pended from the bough of a tree, as exhibited in the 
illustration of "Unyamuezi harvest,'' in Captain Speke's 
Journal. 

Provisions were all remarkably cheap upon this 
route. A fat cow was purchased for four fathoms of 
calico; another full-sized cow, and four small goats, 
were got for eight fathoms; a single sheep was dear 
at two fathoms ; but three small goats were a bargain 
at the same price ; a donkey was offered for fourteen, 
but he would have been dear at half the amount For 
a fowl, one native demanded a charge of gunpowder, 
and would not sell it for anything else ; another native 
led in a goat to camp, saying if we repaired his old 
flint-musket we should have the animal; he refused 
to bargain for anything else. For two quarts of im- 
pure honey, ten strings of common beads and a fathom 
of calico were asked, but not given. Milk was not 



CATTLE AND WILD ANIMALS. G3 

always to be had, the people being afraid to keep 

herds of cattle, as they Would attract the plundering 

propensities of the wandering Watuta race. Milk 

sometimes cost three strings of beads per pint; twelve 

measures of rice, one fathom of calico ; sweet potatoes 

were one-tenth of the price they brought at Zanzibar; 

a basinful of ground-nuts or a load of wood cost but 

one string of ordinary beads. In short, our men lived 

luxuriously on their daily allowance of one string of 

beads per man. The people preferred keeping a few 

milk-cows, being more productive than oxen, which 

were rarely met with, except one or two fattened up 

to a large size on purpose to be killed on the ^osit of 

a neighbouring sultan, or to celebrate some success in 

war. After the cattle have been brought in at night, 

a quantity of rubbish is allowed to smoke and smoulder 

in the centre of their fold. It was amusing to watch 

how each animal took up its nightly position, never 

altering it, and thoroughly enjoying the smoke, which 

prevented it from being annoyed by insects. The 

sheep were very stupid-looking animals, small, and 

wanting in rotundity. Their colour was either white 

and black, black with white, or a bay brown; no 

wool, but crisp hair; their tails tapered oflF from a 

broad fatty base. The head was the only handsome 

part; and two pieces of skin hung from the throat, as 

is seen in the long-eared breed of goats in India. 

Of wild animals we shot none on this route, though, 
away from the cultivations, the spoors of buflfalo and 
antelope were seen. A herd of ten elephants had 
passed through the district, eating up the sorghum 
crop, but no one went after them. The skin of a leo- 
pard was brought us for sale. Its spots were jet black 



64 BIRDS. 

upon yellow ground, and shone almost like a mirror. 
At this season of harvest the crops were favourable 
for concealing lions; and after a native had been 
killed by one, we were recommended not to go out 
after sunset When travelling at night, the natives 
move quickly in bodies, blowing cow-horn trumpets^ 
which sound wild in the stillness. While we were at 
Mineenga three men were chased by a pair of lions, 
and just as the last man reached a hut, he was picked 
oflF by a horrible man-eater. I went to sec the spot 
There were the tracks of the poor victim when knocked 
down and dragged, and where his blood was first spUt; 
farther on, blood lay in quantities, as the body had 
been trailed along; but of the body itself only a small 
bit of bone was left The incident had happened just 
after sunset, said to be the most dangerous time. 

Here Speke shot and brought in a load of four large 
black geese, weighing 9 lb. each, having curious homy 
spurs to their shoulders, and taking to trees on being 
wounded. Farther south I had seen the same kind 
flapping their wings and plimiing themselves between 
showers on rocks in the bed of a stream, and I took 
them for cormorants. Their wings were white outside 
and black under. The natives came in numbers to see 
these birds, such a load of them never having been 
seen before. The wing-feathers were converted into 
head-dresses, but the meat was rejected. Flocks of wild 
pigeon and varieties of small hawks were constantly 
seen about the groves of palms. We shot numbers 
of the former, but they were not good eating, though 
plump to look at : a large red wattle surrounded the 
eyes ; their plumage was extremely pretty ; wings and 
rumps blue, with one white bar across their black tails ; 



UNYAMUEZI VILLAGES. 65 

shoulders and elbows chocolate-coloured; feathers of 
the crop forked ; and legs grey. The crested crane is 
a slaty black or blue colour, the size of a heron, with 
shorter hackles. His head is very handsome, the con- 
trasts of colour being beautifuL He has a black bill, 
a top of rich black feathers, behind it a straw-coloured 
bunch of four-inch-long fibres, having a few black 
featherlets near their roots ; a chalky-white bare skin 
on the cheeks, and a hanging scarlet wattle under- 
neath, with quantities of beautiful blue down on the 
rump ; his call at night when roosting is harsh and 
grating. Fish weighing three and four pounds were 
occasionally caught by our men in pools, but the na- 
tives would not eat them, as they had not come out 
of the sea. However, with the addition of eggs, we 
thought these mud-fish (Makamhara) as good as any 
we had ever taated. 

The villages of the country are fortified by high 
palisades ; many of them are of immense strength, hav- 
ing a broad dry ditch, a quickset hedge of euphorbia, 
a covered-way, and then a palisading. Sometimes a 
very good attempt at a bastion of mud is made, to 
give a flanking fire of arrows. Outside, opposite the 
only entry of one village, an old hoe was stuck on a 
mound, and protected by an awning of bark cloth : 
we were told this was to repel the evil eye. To 
give a general idea of these villages, I may mention 
that, on entering at the low doorway, you see before 
you an avenue of palisades ; to the right and left sets 
of houses are similarly railed off. Until lodging had 
been obtained inside the village, we rested with our kit 
at the " i wansa '' or club-house. It was a long room, 1 2 
by 18 feet, with one door, a low flat roof, well blackened 

£ 



66 UNYAMUEZI DANCE. 

with smoke, and no chimney. Along its length there 
ran a high inclined bench, on which cow-skins were 
spread for men to take their siesta. Some huge drums 
were hung in one comer, and logs smouldered on the 
ground. The young men of the village gathered at 
the club-house to get the news. They smoked, pulled 
out each others eyelashes and eyebrows, filed their 
teeth, and cut their marks of caste on the face or tem- 
ples. Dances would take place in the space in front 
of it, either by day or night. The regular Wezee dance 
is as follows : — A strip of bark or cow-skin is laid on 
the ground, and a line of men, the tallest in the centre, 
stand on it; the drums commence, a howling song joins 
in, and with hands on their haunches and heads bent 
down, they thmnp in unison with their feet. Female 
spectators look on silently from behind, and men in 
front join in the chorus. A shout of laughter, or burst 
of admiration, winds up each dance, and never was 
there a more truly primitive scene of joyous riot. 
Our Seedees had a much better performance, which 
they went through to the music of their voices, hands, 
and feet. Two stood in the centre of a ring, kick- 
ing high at one another like Frenchmen, clapping 
hands and dodging about most ingeniously, while the 
mob sang a lively song, clapped hands and stamped, 
all keeping perfect time, and enjoying it with the 
most thorough good-himiour. They also had a favourite 
teetotum game. Two sides were formed facing each 
other, and all sitting on the ground. Each had before 
him a stump of Indian com and a teetotum of gourd 
in his hand. The object was to knock over witii the 
spinning-totum the adversaries' stump, and the efforts 
on each occasion caused immense merriment 



EARLY MORNING SOUNDS. 67 

In a Wezee village there are few sounds to disturb 
one's night rest : the traveller's horn, and the reply to 
it from a neighbouring village, an accidental alarm, 
the chirping of crickets, and the cry from a sick child, 
however, occasionally broke upon the stillness of our 
nights. Waking early, the first sounds we heard were 
the crowing of cocks, the impatient lowing of cows, 
the bleating of calves, and the chirping of sparrows 
and a few other unmusical birds. The pestle and mor- 
tar shelling com would soon after be heard, or the 
cooing of wild pigeons in the grove of palms. The 
huts were shaped like corn-stacks, supported by bare 
poles, 15 feet high, and 15 to 18 feet in diameter ; some- 
times their grass roofs would be protected from sparks 
by " michans," or frames of Indian-corn stalks ; there 
were no carpets ; all of them were unswept, and dark 
as the hold of a ship. A few earthen jars, made like 
the Indian "gurrah," for boiling vegetables or their 
stirabout, tattered skins, an old bow and arrow, some 
cups of grass, some gourds, perhaps a stool, constituted 
the whole of the furniture. Grain was housed in 
bandboxes of baxk, and goate or calves had free access 
over the house. The goat-skins worn by the Usagara 
natives differed from their neighbours in Unyanyembe, 
being neatly dressed, so as to leave an edging of fur 
upon them. The cotton-cloth of the country, or a 
piece of soiled calico, generally covered the loins of the 
women. We saw here a man wearing the skin of a 
new antelope, the Nzoe, afterwards discovered in the 
Karague Lake. 

A description of one of the sultans will sufiBice to 
give a general impression of the appearance, manners, 
customs^ &c., of the three Wezee dans we had passed 



68 UNYAMUEZI SULTAN. 

through, keeping in mind that this dignitary was the 
finest specimen we had seen, and was supposed to be 
enlightened, though he did not know his own age, 
could neither read, write, nor count beyond ten, and 
had no names for any day of the week, for any month, 
or for any year ! After we had been about a month 
in his district. Sultan Ugalee — i. c. Stirabout — arrived 
at Mineenga on the 21st of April, and was saluted by 
file-firing from our volimteers, and shrill cries fix)m the 
women. He visited us in our verandah the day follow- 
ing. He looks about twenty-two years of age ; has 
three children and thirty wives ; is six feet high, stout, 
with a stupid, heavy expression. His bare head is in 
tassels, black hanks of fibre being mixed in with his 
hair. His body is loosely wrapped roimd with a blue 
and yellow cotton cloth ; his loins are covered with a 
dirty oily bit of calico, and his feet are large and naked. 
A monster ivory ring is on his left wrist, while the 
right one bears a copper ring of rope pattern ; several 
himdreds of wire rings are massed round his ankles. He 
was asked to be seated on one of our iron stools, but 
looked at first frightened, and did not open his moutL 
An old man spoke for him, and a crowd of thirty fol- 
lowers squatted behind him. Speke, to amuse him, 
produced his six-barrelled revolver, but he merely 
eyed it intently. The books of birds and animals, on 
being shown to him upside down by Sirboko, the 
head man of the village, drew from him a sickly 
smile, and he was pleased to imply that he pre- 
ferred the animals to the birds. He received some 
snuff" in the palm of his hand, took a good pinch, and 
gave the rest to his spokesman. He was led to look 
at my musquito-curtained bed, and on moving away 



UNYAMUEZI WOMEN. 69 

was invited to dine with us. We sent him a message 
at seven o'clock that the feast was prepared, but a re- 
ply came that he was " full/' and could not be tempted 
even with a glass of rum. The following day he came 
to wish us good-bye, and left without any exchange of 
presents, being thus very different from the grasping 
race of Ugogo. 

The arms of the people consisted of spears, bows 
and arrows, and leather shields shaped like the figure 
8. Boys in the villages were fond of practising war, 
by pelting each other with Indian-corn stumps, using 
leather shields of defence. 

We had daily visits from the women of the country, 
who came in parties. They were copper-coloured and 
flat-featured, and wore round their necks a profusion 
of pendent bead necklaces of the colour of the moun- 
tain-ash berry; their ankles were concealed with 
masses of wire rings. For hours they sat silently be- 
fore us, smoking, nursing, and shampooing the limbs 
and necks of their infants ; some wore the heavy cloth 
of the country, others had soiled robes of calico. Young 
girls, many of them with pleasing faces and plump 
round figures, wore merely a diminutive cloth about 
their loins, and infants had a fringe of beads. These 
women were rarely accompanied by men, but on Speke 
having taken a woman's likeness, the husband re- 
quested him to write his (the husband's) name on the 
picture, so that the people of England might know 
whose wife she was 1 We saw some decidedly hand- 
some N'yambo girls on tins route : their men at- 
tend upon cattle exclusively, while they stay at 
home doing household work, cooking, coquetting, and 
showing off their beautiful feet and ankles. Two, in 



70 WAHA WOMEN. 

the bloom of youth, sat by us with their arms most 
affectionately twined round each other's neck, till 
asked to sit apart that they might be sketched. The 
arms were at once dropped, exposing their beautiful 
necks and busts, quite models for a " Greek Slave.^ 
Their woolly hair was combed out and raised up from 
the forehead and over their ears by a broad band from 
the skin of a milk-white cow ; this contrasted strik- 
ingly with their transparent light copper skins. 

The Waha women are somewhat similar, having 
tall, erect, graceful figures even without crinoline, and 
with intelligent features. They are looked upon as 
an inferior tribe to the Watusi (described at Kazeh), 
though wearing the hair bound up, and having naked 
arms, &c., similar to them ; but their cow-skin cover- 
ings from the waist to the ankle are different, being 
of a yellow-ochre colour. We put up one day at the 
settlement of a trader, Sungoro-bin-Tabeeb, of whom 
we had heard a good deal, as he travelled always 
in a double -poled tent, and kept sixty wives, who 
lived like goats inside his tent We saw five of his 
women; one was a Hubshee, or Abyssinian, whose 
appearance disappointed us. Her mouth was large, 
and, though fair for a negress, and with distinctly 
bridged nose, she was a poor specimen of her race. 
Another was of my favourite caste, always distinguish- 
able by their intelligence and easy, polite manner — 
a Watusi, a beautiful tall girl, with large dark eyes, 
the smallest mouth and nose, thin lips, small hands, 
&c. Speke said she much resembled the Somal ; her 
noble race never will become slaves, preferring death 
to slavery, and they refuse to touch fowls or goats. 
It was to be regretted that she had not a better 



SIRBOKO OF MINEENGA. 7l 

husband, for Sungoro had been in jail for robbery, 
committed by order of his Arab master. His master, 
however, by way of compensation, left him his ill- 
gotten wealtL 

Two years previous to our arrival in this dis- 
trict, the wandering Watuta, whose women are said 
to use the bow and arrow, treacherously inviting up 
their enemy, had come in thousands to plimder cattle 
from the villages ; but after fighting against the sul- 
tan for five days and losing three men, they left, not 
being able to make way against the muskets of a See- 
d« Lmed Sixboko. wTTed for .me days with 
this excellent man, who was most anxious to get back 
to Zanzibar, but the sultan would not hear of his 
departure ; because, in return for his having protected 
his country, he had made over to him a considerable 
tract of land, on which he was expected to reside for 
life. This was a rare instance of generosity. While 
living in his clean, comfortable, thatched bungalow, 
waiting for porters. Sheikh Said communicated to us 
by letter from ICazeh that we had better get on with 
our journey as fast as we could, for the Arabs there 
had meditated putting us to death, believing that we 
were the accomplices of the rebel chief Manua Sera ! 
However, on our friend Moossah taking a solemn Mus- 
sulman oath that neither he nor we were thus guilty, 
the affair was supposed to have blown over, but they 
woxdd not allow Moossah to join us. Since poor 
Snay s death Mohinna was the chief of the Arabs, 
and had taken offence at us, probably because he was 
requested not to beat so brutally his women-slaves, 
who one day came weeping and wailing to us at 
Eazeh for protection. The resxdt of our good-natured 



72 SLAVES IN CHAINS. 

advice was that, though he promised he should not 
again oflfend, the poor women got another and more 
severe beating, and were put in the stocks to prevent 
their coming near us to complain. The class of Arabs 
we met were certainly a most degraded set, and in- 
stead of improving the country had brought ruin upon 
it by their imperiousness and cruelty. All traded 
in slaves, whom, for security's sake, they were often 
obliged to treat harshly. At Mineenga, we met 
several parties or gangs of slaves in chains, and my 
thoughts reverted to the happy village-life in our own 
coimtry, a pleasing contrast to such painful and re- 
volting scenes. 

Clad each in a single goat-skin, the slaves kept 
themselves warm at night lying near a fire. Never 
is the chain unfastened day or night. Should one of 
the number require to move, the whole must accom- 
pany him. All ate together boiled sweet potato, or a 
spinage made fix)m the leaves of the pumpkin plant, 
and were kept in poor condition to prevent their 
becoming troublesome. One day a woman-slave, on 
seeing our cook casting away the head of a fowl he 
had just killed, picked it up, and gave it to a poor 
convalescent slave, who grasped it with the eagerness 
of a dog. Any meat or bones left over fix)m our 
dinner were always given them. A small lad, whose 
ears had been cut oflf (probably a Uganda boy), 
watched or accompanied the slaves, and treated them, 
I thought, with unfeeling coarseness. A sick slave 
having recovered, it was the boy's duty to chain him 
to his gang again, and it was grievous to see the 
rough, careless way he used the poor emaciated crea- 
ture. Beyond bringing in firewood for themselves 



RELEASE OF A SLAVE. 73 

and cleaning com, they were not much worked. The 
sole object of the owner was to keep them alive, and 
prevent their running away till sold at the coast. Ten 
men and five women had lately deserted, chains and 
all, from Sirboko, so that he did not approve of taking 
oflF their irons ; "the birds vrould soon fly if he did." 
They looked generally sullen and full of despair ; but 
might be seen dancing, and even riotous at times, till 
a word from the earless imp of a boy restored order. 
One amongst them was of a cannibal race to the N. W. 
of the Tanganyika. In appearance he did not diflFer 
from the rest, but he was laughed at for his cannibal 
propensities, which were not entertained by them. 
Another who had been five years in chains was heard 
by Speke to say that " life was a burden to him ; he 
could stand it no longer." We had observed him to 
be a good fellow, the leader and conductor of his gang, 
and we released him from bondage ; his chains were 
struck off with a hammer while he lay calmly with 
his head on a block. Once on his feet, a freed man, 
he did not seem to believe the fact ; but when attired 
in a clean sheet of calico by Baraka, he strutted about, 
the pet of our Seedees, and came to make us his best 
bow. His life had been hazardous, as proved by the 
spear-woimds in his body; he had been captured by 
the Watuta, who cut off several of his toes, and also 
some of his toe-nails. This man never deserted us 
the whole journey. It was his good fortune to reach 
Cairo, with the character of a faithful servant ; and if 
any of his companions attempted to assault his bene- 
factor Baraka, he would instantly fly to defend him. 

The curiosity of the people was sometimes trying to 
our tempers ; but it was excusable, as they had never 



74 THIEVES. 

seen white men before. There was not the slightest 
privacy even inside our tent; they were certain to 
peer in. Sitting in the open air under a tree was tried, 
and succeeded best, for they saw you till they became 
tired of looking, or at your laughing at or mimicking 
them. Every one, except an old woman, was easy to 
manage. She would pester you with questions you 
didn't understand, didn't mind being laughed at, and 
would not leave till led away by some villager who took 
compassion on us. Another woman was most anxious 
to see my feet " What had I imder my shoes and 
socks? She had never seen such coverings." I told her 
she could not be gratified till the evening, when I would 
take them oS. The men were generally fawning, very 
inquisitive, and fond of putting their arms roimd Bom- 
bay's neck to try and get him to give them some pre- 
sent Little satisfied them ; and though we had all our 
kit without lock or key, we never sufiered loss by theft 
in a Wezee village. At Sirboko's, thieves came one 
night, were caught, beaten, and dismissed. Exactly 
one month afterwards they again came, carrying away 
a tin case with clothes and writing materials, seven 
ivories of Sirboko's, &c. &c. Our Seedees were as 
active as policemen, flying about the whole night with 
torches, looking for the stolen goods, and at break of 
day they found the tin case, minus some things, in- 
cluding four tusks. To recover the rest a quack 
doctor or Mganga was sent for, an elderly-looking 
man, and he found the whole, except an ivory and a 
flannel shirt, in a couple of days. The thieves, in fear, 
had placed the articles at the doorway of the village. 
Our men were most excitable creatures. If a cow 
attempted to break out of the village by jumping fences 



SEEDEES AS SERVANTS. 75 

and defied capture, they never thought of calming 
her, but all would arm with guns, spears, swords, and 
sticks, and chase her down tiU stupefied with fear. K 
they had been behaving badly, it did not prevent them 
from asking to have a cow given them; and on being 
refused, they never sulked, but took it out of you some 
other way by studying their own wishes, comforts, and 
wants in maxching. halting, eating, drinking, or steal- 
ing whatever they pleased, and at night giving us the 
benefit of their laughter, shouting, and riots or howl- 
ing. in imitation of a Wezee who has smoked bhang. 
Our cooks (Seedee boys) were most difficult to teach, 
though they had learned a little from the Cape men, 
who had always done this duty. The only idea these 
black roughs had of cooking for themselves was to 
stick a wooden skewer into a piece of meat and scorch 
it over the ashes, or make stirabout No great cuisine 
could therefore be expected. Being anxious on one 
occasion to get some soup after a fever, and knowing 
the larder to contain only a wild duck, I asked Behan, 
" C!ould you get me some soup for breakfast ? I cannot 
eat meat'' " Yes.'' " What 1" said I, " out of a duck?" 
" yes." Thinking him a clever fellow, I gladly con- 
sented ; but his soup was only a thin watery stew, placed 
before me with the most perfect complaisance. Again, 
at 7 P.M., he came up asking would I like some dinner? 
He had not thought of preparing even a boiled potato. 
Such were the men we had as cooks for our entire 
journey. On the march a party of them tried, by 
holding out for three days in not accepting their 
rations, to extort double allowances, on accoimt of the 
price of provisions ; but finding it of no use, they 
quietly submitted. Again, they told us our donkeys 



76 SEEDEES AS SOLDIEBS. 

would not live long if they were made to carry beef ; 
and this I believe was only a device to get the meat 
themselves. 

When detained for want of porters at Mineenga^ we 
taught our men the sword exercise for an hour every 
afternoon. They were apt at learning, did remarkably 
well, and enjoyed it very much, though kept strictly 
to it for the time they were out Not understanding 
discipline, if a shower of rain fell, they thought them- 
selves at liberty to run oflF our parade-ground; and 
when I brought a cane in my hand, they could not 
resist a titter, thinking I had brought it to enforce 
orders, and not merely to show the sword positiona 
On the coast we had taught them the platoon exer- 
cise and target practice, but they never would take 
care of their ammunition, ramrods, or stoppers — al- 
ways firing them away. On the arrival of a detach- 
ment, salutes of welcome must be fired, and always, 
on new moon being visible, each one would try to be 
the first to fire^his gun. But with six months' drill 
and strict discipline, we saw that a negro could be 
made into a good light-infantry soldier; and if he 
only becomes attached to his officer, there is no more 
devoted follower in the world. 

On arrival outside a Wezee village, generally a set 
of armed men would meet us, boimding on the grass, 
running in circles, nmking feints at our caravan, either 
in delight, or in attempts to fidghten us. A shot in 
the air would cool their courage, though our porters on 
hearing it would sometimes drop their loads and fly 
in fear, but speedily returning when reassured. Men 
were in abundance in the country, and if a solitary 
one ran away, he could always be replaced. For 



FOREST GUIDES. 77 

instance, a father saw his son canying a load in our 
caravan; he led him angrily away, and we soon got 
another. But to collect one or two hundred we found 
a most difficult task: they are as fickle as the wind. 
A wave of a flag will attract them, while one mis- 
placed expression will send them away discontented. 
They higgle pertinaciously about their hire; and after 
they have been induced to accept double wages, they 
suddenly change their minds, think youVe got the 
best of it, and ask for more, or more commonly dis- 
appear. 

One of the most pleasing sensations in going 
through an immense forest is suddenly to come upon 
the traces of man. The Wezee experience this, for, 
in their forest south of Kazeh, they erect triimiphal 
arches with poles, over or by the side of the path. These 
they ornament with antelope-skulls, having the horns, 
or with elephant-dimg, bones, bows, or broken gourds. 
It cheers the traveller, and gives fresh vigour to his 
wearied limbs, for he knows that camp and water are 
never far distant, and that the trumpet of the caravan 
leader must soon sound the welcome "halt.'' In 
travelling through these forests, the Unyamuezi rarely 
loses his way, as he is accustomed to range in woods, 
and to mark his route either by breaking boughs or 
noting the position of the sun. 

During my fifty-five days' detention at Mineenga, 
Speke had been away for sixteen days at Kazeh try- 
ing to procure porters by means of the Arabs. The 
third day after his return, the 18th of May 1861, I 
marched northward with a detachment of forty loads, 
making for Ukuni. He picked me up on the 21st, 
and I again went on alone, and reached it on the 



78 BLACKSMITH AT WORK, 

27tL The Journal of the last two days may perhaps 
possess some interest to the reader, as it introduces 
him to Ukulima, the sultan, in whose place I was de- 
tained one hundred and nine days. It is as follows : — 
"26^A May. — Speke keeps the larder well filled. 
Last night, three guinea-fowl and a large tree-goose. 
I went early amongst the Watusi ; handsome people, 
beautiful rounded smaU heads, prominent large eyes, 
thin noses, rather compressed upper jaws; all so clean 
and trim ; no resemblance to the dirty Wezee, who are 
coarse and mannerless in comparison. They make their 
own baskets of osier-like twigs, with a sharpened 
spear, and work with their feet very neatly. They 
got a cow down by pulling its hind-legs to a post, 
and then carefully washed its eye, which had been 
injured. The blacksmith was working amongst them 
making wire anklets from long rods of iron ; bellows 
very small, of wood, with cane handles, which a man 
worked up and down. The hammer was a massive 
mason's chisel: they worked squatting. A whole 
family were very curious to hear the tick of my 
watcL The fighting Watuta had one open-field 
combat with the Watusi, and obtained a victory over 
them; both are afraid of each other. I see that the 
slaves of the Wezees are very well dressed, and 
treated with great kindness, never doing but what they 
choose : quite diflFerent from slaves at Zanzibar, where, 
as Bombay tells me, they would be made to work all 
day, and, by some, be made to steal all night The 
orthodox custom at Zanzibar is five days' labour for 
master, and two days' for the slave himsel£ Behan 
(the new cook) came to say ' there was no grease to 
roast witL' * What axe you to roast ? ' He pointed 



MARCH TO UKUNI. 79 

to his breast *You ought not to roast a brisket' 
He brought a tongue, hump, and double brisket, 
smelling, all of which had been boiled yesterday, 
and now he wanted to loast the brisket already 
done. 

"27th. — Bombay and I march with 38 porters to 
make a start of it to Nimda, in Ukuni, and to see 
Sultan Ukulima. Distance was eight miles through a 
very pretty coimtry, with rocks jutting out fantasti- 
cally, and lying now and then one on another; culti- 
vation all the way. Sighted the village when within 
a mile of it ; quantities of spring water coming down 
from a rocky height to our right After we had en- 
tered the first milk-bush enclosure, there were several 
cleanly-swept windings. Village nearly empty. A 
heavy old man sitting on a stool with half-a-dozen men 
round him, induced me to say * Yambo;' he returned it, 
and I went looking for a house. Came to the palace, 
a very high round hut, smelling strongly of goats and 
catde. I asked permission to live here, and the old 
man, who proved to be the sultan, said, *Doogoh 
yango' — *Come along, my brother.' Sweeping out 
the verandah of goat-dung, my bed was soon made. 
The sultana, a fat, fair, gentle old lady, welcomed me 
with both hands as if I had been her son. She was 
so surprised at the bedding as she sat upon it, and 
everything she saw, saying * Eeh, eeh 1 ' and nodding 
her head : indeed, aU were surprised. Bombay got 
some pomb^; the drunken old sultan himself carried 
a basket-cup of it He drank first (through a straw), 
and then I had some, and very good it was. Then he 
dr^ .gam, .nd I .tank ^ laughing heartily. 
People in himdreds came. I went to sleep, though 



80 PEOPLE OF UKUNI. 

drums beat all day in honour of the arrivaL Their 
politeness was remarkable ; they retired as I sat down 
at meals. Milk very dear, and got with great diffi- 
culty. Lads excited with drums, jumping in the air, 
and flying about Did not see old man for the rest of 
the day ; he was in a state of pomb^ 1 '^ 



CHAPTER VL 

VILLAGE LIFE AT UKUNI, MAY 27 TO SEPTEMBEK 12, 1861 — ^THE 
COUNTRY WELL CULTTTATED AND WOODED — THE SEASONS, 
WmDS, ETC. — BLIND MUSICIANS — FOOD OF THE NATIVES 
— WOMEN AT HARVEST — COINAGE AND MANUFACTURES — 
FLORA OF UKUNI — ^DOMESTIC AND WILD ANIMALS — SINGU- 
LAR CEREMONY WITH A DEAD LION — ^ATTACK OF ANTS — 
SULTAN AND SULTANA OF UKUNI — AFRICAN WOMEN ARE 
GOOD MOTHERS — ^DRUM MUSIC — SUPERSTITIONS — SYSTEM OF 
BROTHERHOOD. 

To commence with the country around, I may state 
that its general elevation above sea-level is 3260 feet 
All the lands run southwards, and are cleared for cul- 
tivation, while the low hills are well wooded, their 
ridges capped with huge masses of rounded rock, some 
single blocks forty and fifty feet in height, balanced 
on each other, or fonning gorges and passes between 
one valley and another. The village of the smaller 
sultan of Eoongwa, seven miles to the N.W., has 
some remarkably pretty landscapes in its neighbour- 
hood. Upon gently- swelling lands gloomy peaked 
masses of granite rise amidst the dense foliage, re- 
minding one of a baronial castle at home, with its 
parks and clumps of trees. Sometimes large water- 

F 



82 THE SEASONS. 

cavities are seen in those boulders; one contained 
sweet pure water in a basin fifty feet in circumference 
and six to eight feet deep, which had been worn out 
by the crumbling of ages. 

During the months of June, July, August^ and twelve 
days of September, we had but one or two slight 
showers of rain (in July), which were preceded by 
dull cloudy weather every nighty that prevented our 
seeing a comet in the constellation of Ursa Major. 
The sun rose and set in a haze, which obscured the 
sky for 40^ During the day, unless the regular S.S.K 
wind blew very hard, a veil of mist lay about This 
wind from the S.E. was very unhealthy, making every 
one sneeze, and giving hard coughs and colds. It 
generally began about 8 a.m.; but by the 12th of 
September it changed to a more easterly direction, 
and brought with it beautiftd clear weather. The 
June mornings were piercingly cold, and at night the 
naked boy who looked after the calves might always 
be seen sleeping with his head pillowed upon them to 
keep himself warm, and our Seedees would lie out for 
the night with a sheet-covering, and a blazing fire at 
their backs. By the end of June the trees had shed 
their leaves. Nothing but evergreens were interesting 
in the forest ; the grasses had been burnt ; the fields 
lay in fallow baked in the sun, or were of powdered 
dust, where cattle had trodden : the aspect was de- 
cidedly wintry. In August the trees began to bud, 
and the grasses, where they had been set on fire, 
were sprouting with fresh leaves. I have alluded to 
the S.E. wind being unhealthy — not a man of us es- 
caped it Speke suffered most dangerously fi:om its 
effects while separated for three months fix>m me. His 



DISEASES. 83 

heavy cough had been brought on by constant anxiety, 
and by his walking about the country trying to per- 
suade men to lead, or proceed with us in our journey 
northwards. My fever came every second day from 
the 29th of May till the 4th of July, lasting six hours, 
making me feel weak and tottering. In July I had 
colds, discharges of mucus from the nose, and a large 
abscess burst — all of which staved off fever for a time ; 
and I had only one or two attacks, of nine hours 
each, during the two following months. In the in- 
tervals of fever I generally managed to go for a stroll 
with my gun to shoot a dove or guinea-fowl for the 
sultan or myself. Of ten Seedees who formed my 
body-guard, servants, &c., only half were generally fit 
for duty, or, perhaps, four in ten, at this S.E. wind 
season. Their complaints were of the chest, cough, 
fever, abscess, ulcers, and venereal (the social evil was 
evident every evening in the frequented part of the 
village). Our medicine - chest was at every one's 
service, but some Seedees applied to an old -lady 
doctor, who, instead of cure, brought tears and screams 
from them whilst applying her remedies to ulcers, 
bandaging them up with cow-dung and leaves to ex- 
clude the air. To cure headaches, the men cut their 
temples and rubbed in a paste of gunpowder. Blood 
would scarcely appear, but the mark was indelible, 
and the cure said to be complete. 

The diseases observed amongst the inhabitants were 
swollen legs, resembling elephantiasis, itch in children, 
scales on the eyes, a few smallpox-marked and blind 
people, one harelip, and a shrivelled infant without a 
thumb. One blind man used to visit periodically, and, 
without even the guide of a dog, knew every turn in 



84 BLIND MUSICIANS. 

the village ; he was welcomed everywhere, as a smile 
for ever played upon his lips. By moonlight he would 
stand singing for two hours at a time with a crowd of 
a hundred people, men and women, the sultan amidst 
them, all round him, joining in a chorus of almost 
devotional music. He had the power, by placing his 
hand to his mouth, of sending the deep, pleasing tones 
of his voice away to a distance, which gave delight to 
every one, the women in particukr showing approval 
by a shrill peculiar falsetto noise, which they make 
by tapping the cheek or shaking the lower lip with 
the forefinger and thumb. Another blind man, deeply 
marked with smallpox, gathered the village boys around 
him and taught the songs of their country, while he 
beat time with his foot. They have several fine na- 
tional airs. 

Their funeral ceremonies are simple enough. Chiefs, 
and most of the respectable classes, are buried under 
the floors of their dwellings, or more commonly in 
cattle-sheds ; while witches and slaves are thrown into 
the jungle without interment I observed one of the 
latter lying, tied with his face to a pole, in long grass, 
with some rags round the waist; the limbs were 
trussed up much in the same way as an infant lies 
asleep. 

Though residing in the verandah of the chief house 
of the M'teme or sultan, or in the most central part of 
the village, I rarely saw any men at their meals, unless 
when assembled round pomb^. They seemed to take 
pot-luck at any hour of the day, and at any house 
where the signs of eating were going on — ^getting a 
boiled sweet potato here, a drink of pombd there, or a 
snack of beef as a rarity. Women were more regular 



THE SULTAN AND SULTANA. 85 

in their living. The lady of my house, seated on a 
wooden stool in the open yard, had always some guests 
to dine with her, generally women of her own age and 
some little children, and never by any chance did her 
husband, the sultan, eat with her on these occasions. 
The food — some boiled sweet potatoes — would be 
brought on a wooden tray, and placed on the ground 
by a servant-maid, who knelt on one knee, or a bowl 
full of pombd would be presented in the same way. 
The sultan had seven wives. Each had her own 
separate house and establishment, which he visited 
daily, though at night he always slept in a place not 
much larger than himself, surrounded by charms and 
lions* paws. He lived almost entirely upon pomb^, 
drinking it three or four times during the day, com- 
mencing as early as seven o'clock, and ending the day, 
if he was not already stupefied, by having it at supper- 
time. He was a very hale, healthy-looking old man, 
apparently about seventy, and most active in his habits. 
Different houses in his village held daily " receptions " 
for him, when he presided, and he was the first to 
taste the bowl of beer. The female population drank 
separately, and were presided over by the sultana. 
The liquor took five days of preparation: the grain 
(sorghum) had to be cleaned, ground, soaked, boiled, 
generally with cow-dung as firewood, allowed to cool, 
and was drunk, without filtration, in a fermenting 
state, out of bowls neatly made of grass by the women. 
With honey added it was tolerable, but without it the 
beverage was coarse and heady to a stranger. Our 
men were constantly tipsy; but the natives who fed 
upon it had a healthy appearance, and rarely became 
drunk. Their active early habits conduced to this result, 



86 HARVEST AND FOOD. 

for all of them were in the fields before sunrise gather- 
ing the crop, or were doing varied works inside their 
enclosures. The women on the 3d June were clipping 
with a knife the tops of the sorghum, putting them 
into baskets, and carrying the whole on their heads to 
the village, where the grain, after being thoroughly 
sun-dried, was thrashed out by lines of men with long- 
handed rackets, as seen in the illustration, " Unyamuezi 
Harvest," of Speke's Journal. They sang and beat the 
grain to a chorus, winnowed it in the S.E. breeze, 
diA-ided it into shares, and by the 1st of July all was 
housed for the year; and porters, had they chosen, 
might have gone with us to Karague, but they preferred 
tasting the new year's grain. After the harvest, the 
poorer people were allowed to glean the potato, 
ground-nut, and grain fields, glad to have some refuse, 
as, should the previous season have been a poor one, 
they must have lived upon dried potato, or what wild 
herbs they could pick up. Our Seedees, all of whom 
except ten were away with Speke, could not afford to 
purchase a cow or goat, and they felt the want of meat 
considerably, but not to the extent that a European 
does. My gun almost daily provided a guinea-fowl or 
pigeon, and the Seedees lived upon stirabout or fish ; 
while, clubbing their daily rations, they could afford to 
purchase a fowl, or by doing some office for the natives, 
such as sewing, &c., they always secured friends. The 
coin we at first used was rose-coloured beads, called 
" goolabee." These were great favourites ; and when 
exhausted, the price of everything rose to double — in 
fact, the new coinage of sea-green beads, or " magee 
bahr," was refused point-blank ; they wouldn't circulate. 
Pure whites, " Kanyera," were tried ; they also failed. 



COINAGE AND MANUFACTURES. 87 

Indian reds, or " Kudunduguru/' were utterly refused, 
as only taken in uncivilised northern countries 1 
" Kutu^mnazee,^ cocoa-nut leaves, at last passed 
muster, and milk was procured for our tea. It was 
a regular strike in the market. All this rubbish of 
beads was merely the equivalent to coppers. Silver 
was represented by webs of unbleached calico, 30 to 
32 yards long, 1 yard wide, and weighing 10 lb., 
stamped in blue, " Massachusetts Sheeting.*' The man 
who got this stamped portion — " Keerole,'' or looking- 
glass, as they called it — was thought a considerable 
swell, and took care to show it across his loins. 
Sovereign coinage consisted of coils of brass and 
copper wire, thicker than that used for telegraphic 
purposes, and converted into bracelets by the natives. 
The blacksmith is never allowed to work inside the 
village, perhaps because he has ample space outside, 
and it is considered safer — not that his caste pro- 
hibits it. 

The nodules of ore are generally smelted in the forests, 
and brought in a limip to the smith, who, jby means 
of stone anvils and stones as sledge-hammers, converts 
it into a long rod ; and finally, by a hand-vice, and 
grease from a small pot he carries, it is tied between 
two posts and drawn till it becomes a thread. It is 
now fit, after being once heated, for being twisted 
neatly with the finger and thumb round a few hairs 
from the tail of a cow, or the thicker hair of a giraffe. 
In this state it is worn in rings ornamenting the ankles 
of men and women, fifteen of them costing one string 
of beads, value a halfpenny, and fifteen copper or brass 
ones being double price. Iron hoes, adzes, grass-hooks, 
small knives, pincers, &c., axe all made up by the 



88 ABRUS SEEDS. 

Datives Id the above rude way ; aod this is the exteDt 
of their Imowledge iD iroDwork 

The womeD have do Deedlework The meD, if they 
make a web iD the loom, sew it all theoiselves; but 
the former are very Deat-haDded at workiDg iD straw 
aDd mattiDg. They giiDd the com aDd atteDd to the 
house. There is do fiDe eartheDware, such as cups 
aDd plates, iD the couDtry; they are Dot requisite. 
Straw or woodeD odcs suffice to hold water, beer, 
or vegetables; aud Europeau pots aDd kettles are 
represcDted by earthcD gurrahs, like a sphere with a 
slice off it Salt is extracted from the soil, as prac- 
tised Id Uhiao, aDd is coDsidered better thaD that 
takcD from the ashes of plaDts. 

The forest at this diy seasoD did Dot afford aDy 
amusemcDt iD its flora : everjrthiDg was iD a dormaDt 
state, aDd few or do flowers could be gathered, except 
some jasDiiDe-sceDted bushes iD the stream-bed ; the 
beautiful little seeds of the abrus peepiDg out of their 
opcD curled-up pods, aud the plaDt twinipg delicately 
rouDd a small tree ; some thorny bushes of a veroiilioD 
floweriDg-shrub, aDd large umbrageous trees of the 
ficus order, used for bird-lime by the Datives ; several 
sweet plimis dow ripe, but Dearly all stoDe. The most 
useful tree to the Datives here is the Miombo ; it 
makes a brilliaDt fire, aDd lasts the whole Dight, just 
to suit the AfricaD, who luxuriates Id its heat. Most 
of the trees are bare-poled, adoiirably adapted for 
palisade purposes, aDd seldom heavier thaD can be 
carried by two mcD. The waods from the Miombo, 
a kiDd of baDyaD, afford the Datives the fibre which 
they attach to their wool. Its maDufacture is simple : 
split the wand loDgitudiually, separate the iDDcr from 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 89 

the outer bark, and chew it well till the next wand 
is ready ; use soon blackens it. Every tree and fruit 
has its separate name and use in this country. 

The sultan owned three hundred milch cows, yet 
every day there was a difficulty about purchasing 
milk, and we were obliged to boil it that it might 
keep, for fe^ir we should have none the following day. 
This practice the natives objected to, saying, "The cows 
will stop their milk if you do so." The calves drank 
most of it Butter, except when rancid, we could not 
procure, the people using it for smearing their persons. 
They seldom had butcher-meat for their dinners, pre- 
ferring to economise their cattle ; and on my informing 
them that a cow lay in a neighbouring jungle with its 
leg broken, and ought to be cared for, a party, headed 
by the sultan's son, went at night, killed the animal, and 
brought over the carcass. It had belonged to another 
village. They kill all their animals with bludgeons, 
hunting them down through lanes and amongst houses. 
The goat's head is twisted ; it never is killed as is done 
in this country, because it is thought the skin would 
thereby be injured for wear. The dogs are no better 
than the pariahs of India, and quite as prolific ; a 
favourite, which was fed by me daily, had twelve pups, 
two of which were drowned. Pet pigeons, of the 
ordinary dovecot sort, flew in circles round the village, 
or would evince alarm at the sight of a large bird. 

We met with no new wild animals here, and killed 
no lions. The natives used to trap game by means of 
nooses and pitfalls, and the lads of several villages 
would assemble with dogs, horns, and spears, to have 
a battue of the different forests — ^partridges, hares, 
coneys, and sometimes antelopes, being the result In 



90 WILD ANIMALS. 

my morning walks (I could not leave the property for 
a single day's shooting) after guinea-fowl, when they 
had become so wild that a rifle was necessary, I once 
stumbled across two full-sized rhinoceros; both at- 
tempted to run up to me, but at 20 yards' distance 
turned ofi*, showing their full lengths, hobbling in their 
canter like little pigs, the leader with cocked tail. A 
steady aim at the shoulder had no efiect, and in case 
he might charge, I looked for my shot-gun, but my 
two followers were in ftdl flight They had observed 
the animals, and had been calling out to me to take care, 
but allowed me to go right upon them without a stalk. 
We tracked, and found that the two had separated 
All animals wander so, that you never know which to 
keep in your hand, the gun or rifle. I was fortimate 
in knockuig over with shot a light bay hornless female 
antelope, which was new to me : it had four white 
cuts across its saddle, the spinal ridge and inside of 
legs white, spotted sides, and tail a tuft of long hair. 
Altogether I was proud of my prize, as there was no- 
thing whatever in the larder. My single follower 
made many excuses that he was not able to carry it 
home, but I assisted till close up to the village, when 
I was ordered to go and ask whether the sultan would 
allow it inside, my attendant saying, " Wezees gener- 
ally have an aversion to it." "MVeeko" — i.e., "it's 
not customary;" "it's a 'phongo,'" "never eaten," &c. 
Disgusted at having wasted two charges of English shot 
upon it, I thought there was a chance for me through 
the sultan. He looked surprised, and flew into such 
a rage, that the men round him had to explain — " If 
you eat it you'll lose your fingers and toes, get scab 
all over, and if it has spat on you the part will be- 



WILD ANIMALS. 91 

come a sore/^ I begged that the skin might be allowed 
inside the village ; no, not the skin even, nor its tail, 
80 I could only sketch the animal. By-and-by a na- 
tive caravan, carrying loads of salt, arrived, and the 
men were glad to get it to eat. Our Seedees said it 
was called the " bawala" in their coimtry, and was 
never eaten; but to look at, it was as nice as any 
antelope I had ever seen. The smaller animals were 
N'geeree, a pig which the Wezee is very fond of: 
wells are dug by them in the forests. Another animal 
of the same size, but which it is not customary to eat, 
is the N'grooweh; and from the description given of 
it^ it must be an antelope, having no tusks, but teeth 
like a goat and hair like a buffalo. There are also 
wild-cats, deep brown, and barred across — ^very bold, 
fearless-looking creatures. Troops of that beautiful 
little animal the mongoose, which becomes so tame 
in the house, we saw seaxching for water : they are 
called " goozeeroo.'' Their dark bodies are barred 
across to the tip of the tail. On one of them being 
wounded by a bullet, another commenced to tear it 
with the greatest viciousness. 

Lions and lynxes are considered the sole property 
of the sultan, and form part of his right and revenue. 
When carried in, lashed on a frame on men's shoulders 
and placed at his door, drums are beat, the women 
shout, great excitement prevails, and a dance usually 
takes place about the carcass. I had the curiosity to 
measure the length of one lion, and found it was three 
steps from the root of the tail to the nose, and in passing 
round it I was said to have subjected myself to a fine 
of two fathoms calico ; but this I refused, and never 
did pay, because I had not stepped over it The putrid 



92 WILD ANIMALS. 

flesh is cut in pieces, and boiled by the sultan in person. 
All the grease is preserved as valuable magic medicine, 
the tail and paws are hung over his doorway, and the 
skin, skilfully pegged out in the sun to dry, is pre- 
pared for the sultan's wear, as no one else dare use it. 
The colour of a young male lion was a pale ochre, with 
distinct dark spots on his hind-legs. The lynx is even 
more highly prized than the lion, though only the size 
of, and a little heavier than, an English fox, with a 
stumpy, short, curled-back dog-tail, and tips of hair to 
his black ears. He has immense, powerful, thickly- 
formed little arms, great length of body, and is said 
by the natives to kill even the lion and buffalo. This 
I believe, for he gives one the idea of bull-dog courage. 
He is said to watch his prey from a tree. The colour 
of the lynx is a dusty red, indistinctly spotted ; a per- 
fect cat's head ; white round the eyes and underneath 
the body. The ceremony observed on the arrival of 
either a lion or lynx is curious : — The sultan, sultana, 
and the sultan's wife next in rank, sit on stools placed 
in the open air, with the dead animal in front of them, 
the crowd all round, squatted or standing. A small 
lump of serpent-dung is made into a paste with water 
upon a stone. Spots of this white ointment are placed 
by the sultan's own hands upon the forehead, chest, 
tips of shoulders, instep, and palms of hands of himself 
and the two wives, and drums and dancing continue 
afterwards for some hours. The serpent-dung is sup- 
posed to have the charm of bringing plenty, or " bur- 
kut," to a house, because it gives many young. No one 
but kings may make use of it. 

Vidtures always hover where a dead body is thrown 
out of the village into the grass. This did not prevent 



BIRDS AKD FISH. 93 

the natives from making use of their feathers, or those 
of the adjutant, for head-dresses on occasions of mer- 
riment, or on the marcL Another bird of prey is 
a slate -coloured hawk, possessing a powerful flight, 
quite able to knock over a guinea-fowl, and altogether 
of noble appearance. Of eating-birds, there were three 
species of partridge, a few quail, the florikan, blue 
wild-pigeon, guinea-fowl, and a knob-nosed duck. The 
"k'engo," tree -partridge, resembles the painted one of 
India, has yellow legs, beautiful plumage, and weighs 
about a pound; the natives trap them in nooses of 
hair. The " kewtee " or " nsense,'' only half a pound 
in weight, is a very plump little partridge, found in 
open places, scratching and scraping the ground like a 
hen ; and in colour it is almost the same as the quail. 
It has reddish legs, with a buttx)n-like pearly spur. A 
third kind of partridge is the " qualse : " it is more 
common than the others, and has a handsome blue 
full plumage and red legs, with sometimes an appear- 
ance of a double spur. The most game bird in plum- 
age was the florikan, weighing from 1^ to 2^ lb., and 
forming even better food than the Indian species. A 
few parrots, a long-tailed bird of paradise, with the 
most graceful airy flight, some handsome yellow birds, 
about the size of the blackbird, and others with black 
bodies and white primaries, taking languid, short 
flights, were the most remarkable we saw during a 
morning or evening walk. 

Our Seedees killed nearly all the fish in the country. 
They were caught by raking the still, waist-deep pools 
in the stream-bed by means of a hurdle of sticks. The 
large 20-pounders were often left for another day, but 
a good load of fifty smaller fish was generally brought 



94 FEROaOUS ANTS, 

in to be split up, dried over the fire, and kept for con- 
sumption. Two species, the " makambaxa " and " go- 
go," were usually taken — the former and largest is 
scaleless, large -headed, and lank -bodied ; the latter is 
only f lb. weight, and resembles a stickleback. 

Eats, fleas, and ants very often made our nights 
miserable. The calves alongside broke through their 
pens, and roused every one, while an alarm of " seafoo," 
or ants, and " bring a light," would be shouted by our 
Seedees. In a moment these vicious insects fixed 
upon our skin, biting and clinging like leeches till 
kiUed in their death-grip, and it became a desperate 
case for us whether we turned out or they turned in I 
A line of burning charcoal was placed to scare them 
away, and then you could again recline without further 
molestation or after-efiects. But what was to be done 
to prevent their return the following night like an 
invading army ? The sultan very properly would not 
allow the reckless Seedees to place charcoal round his 
house during the night, but he had about a hundred 
goats brought in, and kept there three nights and days 
to pollute the place and make it obnoxious to the ants, 
and this was found to be an effectual remedy for the 
time. These ants arc no larger than ordinary ones in 
England, but bite with the greatest ferocity. 

The description given of the sultan at Mineenga 
will answer for all the natives in the " Land of the 
Moon," {. e., " UnyamuezL" They are a sottish and 
unambitious race, even the best of them, though by no 
means incapable of improvement My friend Ukuli- 
ma of Ukuni was a fine old fellow, although he had 
his failings. As 1 resided in the verandah of his 
best house, the inside of which was occupied by the 



CHILDISHNESS OF THE SULTAN. 95 

old sultana, some goats, and female servants, lie passed 
or saw me daily, always saying "Yambo," or, if in 
extra good-humour, caUing me "Doogo yango,^' bro- 
ther, or even "sultaiL*' Constantly, till I was tired 
of him, would he sit by me in my iron chair, greasing 
it all over, and playing the fool in various ways, such 
as opening the medicine -chest, helping himself to 
quinine, which he would put in his beer, or give it to 
a neighbour, to have a laugh over its bitter taste. 
Lucifer-matches he delighted in seeing lit, though 
ajfraid to light them himself. One day he felt dis- 
satisfied because I would not give him magic medicine, 
and when he left, he with great difficulty put on my 
thick shoes, strutted about the village with them, and 
collected all the little boys as he trailed his feet on the 
ground. If a pigeon was shot, he would be most 
childish in begging it of me, saying, "Go and shoot 
another, as I want two." If this was not done, he 
would not be content with the one, but leave it in 
a pet, saying, tauntingly, "There will be pombd 
to-morrow." My Bible, sketch-book, or the book of 
birds, he would turn over, smiling at each new leaf or 
picture, and asking what it meant. When he saw 
that I never asked a fee for the medicines given to his 
wives or followers, he thought I must have some object 
in it, and redoubled his little kindnesses ; or, as I was 
80 friendly, he would suggest that I should give hinn a 
recipe by which he could distinguish friends from foes ! 
He inquired anxiously why we were going on to 
Karague ; we should get killed. " The people there 
plant their spears in your foot, and demand, * What do 
you want? * You must return to the coast, and I will 
send my own son in charge of you." 



96 EXTRACT FROM JOURNAL. 

All this was very good ; but, on the day of our de- 
parture, having already received and expressed satis- 
faction with the presents firom Speke, he showed his 
true character by demanding a separate present from 
me. He so far forgot himself as to seize two cases of 
ammunition and a gun, and drove my porters out of 
the village with his stick. Poor old man ! some cloth 
and beads sent the following day softened his anger, 
and my eflfects were allowed to leave his dominions. 
He was much respected in the country, and most of 
the neighbouring sultans visited him with great for- 
mality. On these occasions my guns were asked for 
to fire salutes. The procession would be headed by 
spearsmen, then followed the lady visitors carrying 
gourds of pomb^ drums beating furiously, shots, sham- 
fights, &c. ; and the sultan would ask me to join in 
the dance. After a time I was called upon by the 
strangers, and every book, box, blanket, &c., was 
minutely scrutinised by them. 

On the morning of the 8th June, my journal re- 
marks : — " A.M., One shot knocked over two guinea-fowl 
— a blessing — ^nothing to eat ; people pleased at seeing 
them. No fever. Sultan still here : whole village at 
pombd ; had a potful sent me, but cat turned it over. 
Bombay and Rehan asleep all day. Called for dinner 
at usual hour, fire black out ; asked for the roast-fowl 
of the morning — Rehan had eaten it Took all this 
philosophically, and got two fellows to prepare a 
guinea-fowl by 7^ p.m. Not many drunken men 
about — ^all asleep." A batch of tall Watusi men paid 
me visits; my umbrella was much fancied by their 
chie£ He offered me his pipe for it ; and, finding this 
was not enough, he brought me another day an iron 



THE OLD SULTANA. 97 

hoe ! To get rid of the subject, I asked him to sell me 
his forefinger, and said that twenty cows wouldn't buy 
my umbrella, which at last made him understand my 
meaning, as they value everything by cattle. The 
natives had great faith in the " Wazoongoo,'' white 
men. Our very paper, which they called "pupolo," 
was considered by some to have virtues ; but we hadn't 
much of it to give, having had no communication with 
England for nearly a year. 

The custom of the Arab in this country is to take 
presents for everything he does, and the same idea was 
formed of us. For instance, if a gun had to be re- 
paired, a bullet to be extracted, an old sultan to be 
cured of dimness of vision, or the split lobe of an ear 
to be mended, for any of these services a cow or cows 
were at hand to be paid when the task was finished. 
When slaves were brought us for sale and declined, 
they could not understand our indifference to such 
traffic, but would turn from us with a significant shrug, 
as much as to say, " Why are you here, then V 

Every morning the sultana and myself met, cordially 
shaking hands and asking how the night had been 
passed ; previously to this her grandchildren had been 
in to her bedside, bidding good-morning. Every re- 
spect was paid the old lady by her family and by the 
lower classes, who stooped, knelt, or twice clapped 
their hands as they met her. She was active like her 
husband, an exceUent housewife, gave herself no airs, 
but still maintained her dignity. She might be seen 
nursing an infant, kindly carrying it about on her 
back, or at times shouldering a log of firewood. If I 
had refused pombd from her husband and son, she 
would bring me a cupful, put it to her lips, and with 

G 



98 WOMEN OP UNYAMUEZL 

a gentle, ladylike curtsy, ask me to accept it ; refusal 
would have been boorish. Her old eyes were getting 
dim, and on her hearing that I had made up some 
wash (from filings of zinc), thinking in her ignorance 
it might have a virtue for impaired vision, she begged 
for a little. On our getting to Cairo, some beads and 
trinkets were sent her ladyship vid Zanzibar, which it 
is to be hoped have ere this reached her. 

The women, through my servants, soon found out 
that I had a looking-glass. They took it into their 
hands, and held it there, continually looking at them- 
selves, but it was evident they were not altogether 
satisfied with their appearance. They busied them- 
selves with field operations, even using the flail, and at 
night a band of them would meet to dance in the moon- 
light Their manner was to twist their bodies, stamp, 
and sing, till, exhausted by their antics, they paused to 
breathe and laugh. Two quarrelled one day, and came 
at last to blows, striking out like men, and drawing 
blood, but they were separated by our Seedees. They 
are very masculine in several respects ; two of them ac- 
companied me as volunteer porters when going to join 
Speke, and were even more inveterate smokers than 
the men. Their entire dress was one cloth wrapped 
round the loins from below the breasts to the calf of 
the leg, below which, down to the ankle, were immense 
masses of brass or iron wire rings, as before described. 
The head wool, dressed with an oily preparation, looked 
as if they wore a scalp of shining black beetles, among 
which were interspersed hawthom-berry-coloured beads 
or rings of brass ; others wore their hair in tassels, with 
seed-charms, &c. Necklaces of beads, brown or rose- 
coloured, adorned their necks ; they had no rings on 



WOMEN OF UXYAMUEZI. 99 

their toes. Men often allow the nail of the small 
finger to grow long. The meeting of two women of 
unequal rank is a pleasing sight ; the inferior sinks on 
her knee, and droops her head, while the other lays a 
hand on her shoulder muttering something. Both re- 
main silent for a moment, but on rising they chat and 
gossip. The curtsy is also observed by them. When 
the wife hears that her husband is about to arrive 
from a journey to the coast, she dresses herself in a 
feathered cap and in the best costume she possesses, 
and proceeds with other women in ordinary dress to 
the sultana's, where they sing and dance at the door. 

These Wezee women do not practise much tattooing, 
merely making three lines on each temple, and per- 
haps a line down the forehead reaching to the bridge 
of the nose ; but some of the Watusi females were 
observed to have their shoulders and breasts very 
handsomely tattooed to imitate lady^s point-lace in 
front, and crossed like a pair of braces behind. The 
waists were also marked in the same way. They pre- 
pare their dress of cow-skin to look like thick Irish 
frieze-cloth : a needle teases the leather fibre into this 
appearance, and the turn -over part at the waist is 
made ornamental by strips from the skins of variously- 
coloured cattle. I have understood that some East 
African women live in the forests as much as fifteen 
days before the expected birth of a child, having a hut 
erected for them. This practice was not observed 
here, but the children are as fondly cared for by the 
mothers as in any part of the world, and not an in- 
stance is known of one of them selling her offspring, 
even when tempted to it by famine— they would sooner 
die. The boys practised many manly games a^ seen in 



100 SKULLS OX THE PALISADING. 

our own gymnasiums, — such as jumping over sticks 
— shooting, \\dth bolted arrows, partridge or pigeon, or 
teaching small birds to sing — ^making model guns out 
of cane, going off with a trigger and having a cloud of 
sand for smoke — copying our double-barrelled guns, and 
making them, with nipple, hammer, trigger, &c., out of 
mud, with cotton for the smoke. They had also made 
cross-bows; and generally they evinced great powers of 
imitation. Seeing the ingenuity of the little fellows, we 
could not help longing for the happy day that should 
introduce amongst them more valuable improvements. 

The habitations of the country have been described 
in the previous chapter. It only remains to add 
that there were no wells in the villages, water being 
carried from distant springs — ^that the dust was very 
annoying from the dances, &c. — that ground-nuts 
were not allowed to be roasted inside the bomah — and 
that outside the village human skulls and skeletons of 
hands (those of enemies killed in action) were stuck 
on the tops of the highest trees, or fixed on poles at 
the top of mounds. When the boimdary of the vil- 
lage was to be enlarged, bare-poled trees for palisades 
were carried from the forest by Watusi, crying like 
jackals. On putting them into position, skulls of ani- 
mals (or human), broken stools or baskets, land shells, 
&c., were stuck upon them. 

On the 27th of June we had cries of "War, war !" 
In an instant the place was alive, and thirty poor- 
looking creatures, each with a bow and from four to six 
arrows, rushed out of the village, followed slowly by 
the sultan, carrying tvvo spears. All got upon a mound, 
looking in the direction whence the noise proceeded. 
A party from a distance here joined them, and after 



AN OPEN COURT. 101 

skirmishing and larking in the grass. aU again turned 
into the village to have their pomb^ ! There was a 
second attack on the 4th July. The people of a 
M'salala village had captured some cattle. A few 
men with short-handled hatchets, spears, bows and 
arrows, all the " troops " that could be spared, paraded 
under the command of a red -robed leader; in ten 
days they returned all alive and safe, reporting the 
death of six of the enemy, and bringing the trophy of 
one head, which was stuck upon the palisading over 
the eastern gate, with the face to the zenith. Great 
rejoicing and pomb^ took place in the evening. 

On the I7th, at 1 p.m., a dance took place for an 
hour, after which a court assembled on the same 
groimd to hear evidence regarding the M'salala war. 
In the centre space lay the tusk of an elephant. Only 
the sultan and his wuzeers or officers sat on stools. 
The women were most attentive listeners to the 
speeches, and all was marked with the utmost de- 
corum. For an hour the sultan addressed the crowd, 
sometimes stopping to think, and pulling out hairs 
from his face with iron tongs. There were bursts of 
laughter at his jokes, and when he had finished, a 
general conversation began. A wuzeer now spoke 
very sharply, and after each of his sentences there 
was a great clapping of hands and assent of " hums." 
Two of the crowd then delivered addresses, which 
were received with a single "viva,'' and the court 
abruptly broke up. Except the ridiculous part of 
pulling out the hairs of the sultan's beard, there could 
not be a more impressive or orderly court. It again 
assembled two days afterwards : the tusk still lay in 
the space, and was presented by the chief of M'salala 



102 IMPEDIMENTS TO TRAVELLING. ' 

in token of submission to the court's decision against 
him. Thus, by simple arbitration, ended their war of 
four-and-twenty days, which had entailed no greater 
loss than half-a-dozen men. 

A great talk and excitement was caused on the 4th 
August by the discovery of a man throwing a pair of 
human hands into a bush in the forest As he could 
give no satisfactory accoimt of himself, and was sus- 
pected of murder, he was at once made prisoner, but 
unfortunately he made his escape. It seems to be the 
established rule here, that when such trophies are 
proved to be those of war, the chief of his village kills 
a cow and gives a feast This was sufficient for the 
prisoner, and for many others, no doubt, to commit 
murder, and it was the only case I heard of that 
created any very great sensation amongst the nativea 

Owing to such incidental circumstances, trade and 
travel are very much impeded, as single individuals 
can never with impunity move from one district to 
another, and are sure to be plimdered, if not murdered. 
Two of our men fell behind upon one occasion, when 
their guns were at once seized, and to recover them it 
was necessary to pay a tax of two fathoms of cloth, 
after which the men were allowed to pass on. War 
causes retaliation in every direction. A M'salala 
caravan on its way through Ugogo from the coast was 
plimdered by the natives. The latter on their part 
attributed their ill fortune to the Arab traders, who 
had brought war on the country, and to revenge 
themselves they seized the property of an Arab trader 
passing through their territory, and meant to treat all 
foreigners visiting them with the same rigour, imtil 
the lex talionis was fairly vindicated. 



AMUSEMENTS OF THE NATIVES. 103 

The sepoys of the sultan consisted of about twenty 
idle young fellows, who tried to dress jauntily, and 
were the fast men and pick of the place. If an 
order had to be conveyed from one of the sultanas 
villages to another, their word was law. If an escort 
was necessary, they were employed, and when war 
broke out they collected levies all round the country 
from their own class or from poorer natives. None 
of these soldiers would deign to carry a load for us ; 
they were, in their own estimation, the life-guards- 
men of the state, consequently led an idle life, play- 
ing at pitch-and-toss, bao, beating the drum, &c. 
Without coins one would imagine that pitch-and-toss 
could not be played ; but has not bark got two sides ? 
Circles of bark were used, also a few leaden discs pitched 
in the air, while the gamester clapped his hands and let 
the discs fall upon a cow-skin placed on the ground. 
My wonder was how they fell so fairly on the skin, 
and also that the game was not known by our Zanzibar 
men. The stakes were bows, arrows, arrow-tips, and 
ankle-wires ; the counters were made of pieces of stick. 
Bao is a coast game, played by two, with a board 
having thirty-two cups or weUs in it, and sixty-four 
counters of seeds, called "komo.'* The sultan sat 
down with any one he could get to play this rather 
skilful game. 

Every large country has its own style of drumming; 
that of Unyanyembe was more musical than the jum- 
ble of drums here. The conductor had always the 
largest drum ; the rest watched him for the time, 
while at his feet a little black youth rattled as hard as 
he could, without ceasing, at a wooden trough. If the 
noise of it was not heard, the music lost its stirring 



104 SUPERSTITIOUS FEABS. 

effect ! The drums were of wood, three to four feet high, 
and slung on a beam at a convenient height ; the sticks 
were twelve inches long. At these dances the head 
men were present to preserve order, and to prevent, as 
much as possible, the use of spears or arrows in their 
antics. On the arrival of a distinguished guest, such 
as the son of the sultan, who owned a neighbouring 
village, a roll from each of the four drums was given 
in succession, and as he entered the place every one hid 
in his house from shyness. If a lion or a culprit was 
brought in, the "assembly" was beaten furiously. 
Single taps at short intervals, and gradually increas- 
ing to a roll, were given in a case of murder, at 
five in the morning, and again an hour afterwards. 
The previous days had been, night and day, celebrated 
by incessant drumming on the part of a dark set of 
wandering beggars or gypsy lads, richly necklaced with 
beads, to commemorate some event which appeared, 
from the scant information I could obtain from my 
interpreter, to be celebrated once or twice in three 
years. This, if true, shows that they mark a period, 
announced by gypsies, whom I observed but twice 
during my stay at Ukuni 

Of religion, idols. Sabbaths, or holidays they have 
none, but of superstitious fears and beliefs they have 
an ample store. On the occasion of the arrival of 
Speke with a detachment at a village, the natives shut 
their doors against him, and for three hours inhospit- 
ably kept the party in the sun. They had never 
before seen a white man, nor the tin boxes that the 
men were carrying ; " and who knows," they said, " but 
that these very boxes are the plimdering Watuta 
transformed and come to kill us all ? You cannot be 



sultan's daughter possessed. 105 

admitted/^ No persuasion could avail with them, and 
the party had to proceed to the next village. 

Three stones, placed in a triangular form, surrounded 
the dwelling-house of the sultan of Ukuni, and within 
them it was believed no harm could ever happen to 
him, even if a gun were fired at him. One of our men 
sitting on one of these stones, jumped off, as if stung, 
on being told of the sacred character of the place. 

The ceremony of driving out an evil spirit, or 
" Phepo,*' is elaborate and curious. The sultan sits at 
the doorway of his hut, which is decorated with lion- 
paws. His daughter, the possessed, is opposite him, 
completely hooded, and guarded by two Watusi women, 
one on each side, holding a naked spear erect. The 
sultana completes the circle. Pombd is spirted up in 
the air so as to fall upon them all. A cow is then 
brought in with its mouth tightly bound up, almost 
preventing the possibility of breathing, and it is evi- 
dent that the poor cow is to be the sacrifice. One 
spear -bearer gives the animal two gentle taps with a 
hatchet between the horns, and she is followed by the 
woman with the evil spirit and by a second spear- 
bearer, who also tap the cow. A man now steps for- 
ward, and with the same hatchet kills the cow by a 
blow behind the horns. The blood is all caught in a 
tray (a Kaffir custom) and placed at the feet of the 
possessed, after which a spear-bearer puts spots of the 
blood on the women's forehead, on the root of the neck, 
the pahns of the hands, and the instep of the feet. He 
spots the other spear-bearers in a similar manner, and 
the tray is then taken by another man, who spots the 
sultan, his kindred, and household. Again the tray is 
carried to the feet of the possessed, and she spots with 



106 BLACK-ART CASES. 

the blood her little son and nephews, who kneel to 
receive it. Sisters and female relatives come next to 
be anointed by her, and it is pleasant to see those 
dearest to her pressing forward mth congratulations 
and wishes. She then rises from her seat, uttering a 
sort of whining cry, and walks oflF to the house of the 
sultana, preceded and followed by spear-bearers. Dur- 
ing the day she walks about the village, still hooded, 
and attended by several followers shaking gourds con- 
taining grain, and singing " Heigh-ho, massa-a-no," or 
" masanga." An old woman is appointed to wrestle 
with her for a broomstick which she carries, and finally 
the stick is left in her hand. Late in the afternoon a 
change is wrought ; she appears as in ordinary, but 
with her face curiously painted, her followers being 
also painted in the same way. She sits without smil- 
ing to receive offerings of grain, with beads or anklets 
placed on twigs of the broomstick, which she holds 
upright ; and this over, she walks among the women, 
who shout out " Gnombe ! " (cow) or some other ridicul- 
ous expression to create a laugh. This winds up the 
ceremony on the first day, but two days afterwards 
the now emancipated woman is seen parading about 
with the broomstick hung with beads and rings, and 
looking herself again, being completely cured. The 
vanquished spirit had been forced to fly ! 

Black -art cases were duly tried, and generally 
ended in conviction. A cowherd who had sold me 
some fish died very suddenly; one of his two wives 
was suspected of having poisoned him; and being 
tried, she was convicted and condemned. She was 
taken to the dry bed of the stream, her arms tied 
behind her, and was killed by having her throat cut 



CASE OF ADULTERY. 107 

from ear to ear. No hyena touched the body, which 
still more confirmed the belief that she was guilty; 
for my Seedee cook said, " Has not the hyena the soul 
of a man ? does he not know your thoughts when you 
determine on shooting him ? ^' 

On the 10th of July my servant asked permission 
to go and see the uchaw^. I accompanied him to the 
outside of the bomah (village fence), where a woman 
and lad lay on their faces with their arms boimd 
painfuUy tight, and writhing in torture. Poor crea- 
tures ! they met with no sympathy from the jeering 
crowd, but the ropes were slackened at my request. 
H,ey had Wa appreh-ded on suspicion Jf havtog 
bewitched the sultan's brother, who lay sick for fif- 
teen days, and unless they could work off the magic 
spell they must die. The lad said, " Take me to the 
forest; I know an herb remedy." On the seventh 
day from this scene (during which the lad was out- 
side the village, and the woman kept by the sick 
patient in the stocks) the former was killed and the 
woman released. I went to see his body the follow- 
ing day, but the hyena (I was told) had taken it 
away. Nothing remained but blood and the ashes of 
some hair by a fire. Could they have tortured him 
by burning ? A case of adultery was punished in the 
most horrible manner, too painful to describe minute- 
ly. They had no Divorce Court I The strapping 
young fellow who had found his way into the harem 
of the sultan, was tied to railings, stripped, certain 
parts of his person were smeared and covered with 
rags, then set fire to by the sultan in person, and he 
was dragged to the fire outside the village ; but before 
he could reach it, assigais from the hands of the son 



108 MAKING BROTHERHOOD. 

and daughter-in-law of the sultan pierced his neck 
and chest, and he was drawn out by one leg like a 
dog through the gate. The woman who committed 
this act came in fear to me at night, sajring, " Give 
me protection : it is said I am to be killed for stabbing 
the adulterer." Though for the moment I detested the 
woman, I endeavoured to calm her by saying my guns 
would be her protection, and my men should sleep in 
her house. On asking her " Why did you soil your 
hands with such a deed ? " she replied, in the most 
animated way, " Oh, did I not glory in it ! did the 
feUow not come to my bedside one night making pro- 
positions to me, and I never could get hold of him 
since ? " The following day she, as usual, wished me 
good-morning, but I shuddered to think that so hand- 
some a woman and so kind a mother, with four beau- 
tiful children who must have seen all, could have 
committed such an act. The woman who had offend- 
ed was a middle-aged good-looking person. Nothing 
whatever was done to her, though she had once be- 
fore been the cause of a man's death under similar 
circumstances. Pre\dous to this event she would 
come often to look at herself in my mirror, but after- 
wards I did not see so much of her. 

Several of our men made brotherhood with the 
Wezees, and the process between Bombay and the 
sultan's son, Keerenga, may be mentioned. My con- 
sent having been given, a mat is spread, and a con- 
fidential party or surgeon attends on each. All 
four squat, as if to have a game at whist; before 
them are two clean leaves, a little grease, and a 
spear-head; a cut is made imder the ribs of the 
left side of each party, a drop of blood put on a 



CAUSE OF DELAY. 109 

leaf and exchanged by the surgeons, who rub it 
with butter twice into the wound with the leaf, 
which is now torn in pieces and strewn over the 
" brothers' '* heads. A solemn address is made by the 
older of the attendants, and they conclude the cere- 
mony by rubbing their own sides with butter, shaking 
hands, and wishing each other success. Ten rounds of 
ammunition are then fired off; a compliment from 
each of the four drums is sounded, and they parade 
the village all the afternoon. This was the form ob- 
served by the Wanyamuezi. An Uganda lad, the 
magician of the sultan, made brotherhood with Rehan, 
the cook, by cutting marks on his chest and rubbing 
in the fat of lions. This young wizard of Uganda, 
with his bamboo tube, could blow away all the 
enemies of the sultan, or, if persuaded to go out shoot- 
ing with you, a second blast from his trumpet would 
make the a.nimals of the forest stand before you! 
The last of their unintelligible customs I shall men- 
tion, was that of a number of men amusing themselves 
by running fast through and about the village, singing, 
at every third or fourth step, " Queri'* or " Hairy,'' and 
" Queri Mahamba." I had seen the same custom across 
country, outside the village ; and on the nights of this 
great stir, dancing would also take place. 

To give a description of the difficulties and disap- 
pointments we experienced for nearly four months in 
procuring men to cany our luggage, would be tiresome. 
I shall only mention a few instances. Speke was away 
sixty miles in advance of me with a portion of the pro- 
perty : neither he nor I could proceed a step ; we were 
like two planets compelled by a fixed law to preserve 
our distancea He resolved on making a flying march 



110 WE SUCCEED IN MARCHINO. 

to Karague, in the hope of sending me relief firom 
thence. Our own Seedees mutinied ; they would not 
hear of this plau, as the country of Usui was danger- 
ous, — it was certain death to accompany white men, 
who were considered sorcerers of the deepest dye, and 
they insisted that we had not enough of presents 
for the chiefs. Speke, ever active, to my utter sur- 
prise, walked back the sixty mUes to announce this 
failure to me. " What has happened? I thought you 
were in Karague!'* What was to be done? Our 
beads and cloth were running short ; my sultan would 
not give us a man. Unyanyembe and the Arabs must 
be appealed to, and carpenters might be got to proceed 
to the south end of Lake Nyanza, make a raft, and so 
escape the danger of UsuL This plan was carried 
out with success. Speke returned on the nineteenth 
day from the Arabs, having, in going and returning, 
accomplished a journey of 180 miles. He had 
ordered from Zanzibar a fresh supply of bartering 
goods, of which we heard nothing till our arrival in 
England two years afterwards. The raft scheme had 
been dropped, and he had brought with him trusty 
guides and interpreters for Uganda. Here more than 
a month elapses ; his guides desert, his men are more 
mutinous than ever, and Bombay is on his way for new 
guides, as his master is struck down with illness, which 
I knew nothing of for twenty-seven days, and had no 
prospect of seeing him. Suddenly a party of coast 
men arrive from the north, saying, "Every^ chief there 
waits you ; go on, get porters; the road is clear;" 
so, after dajrs of obstinate resistance and final outbreak 
by my old sultan, on the 12th September I was able 
once again to be on the move to join my companion. 



CHAPTER VII. 

UKUNI TO KAEAGUE, SEPTEMBEE 12 TO NOVEMBER 25, DIS- 
TANCE 200 MILES — COMMENCING THE JOURNEY — ^ATTACKED 
ON THE MARCH — THE WATUTA RACE — ^THE COUNTRY BE- 
TWEEN UKUNI AND KARAGUE — WATERFALL — VOLCANIC 
MOUNDS — ^THE KING OF BIRDS— THE WANYAMBO — THE WA- 
LINGA, OR WORKERS IN IRON — A NATIVE BEAUTY — LAN- 
GUAGE OF THE COUNTRY. 

Karague ! how charmed we were to get there ; its 
fine hills, lake sceneiy, climate, and, above all, the 
gentleness of the royal family, were all in such contrast 
to what we had experienced elsewhere of Africa and 
Africans, that, if surrounded by our friends, we should 
have been content, for a time at least, to take up our 
residence there. But before describing the country, 
the thread of our narrative must be taken up to show 
what had to be undergone to reach this haven. In 
September 1861, when preparing to move, I found 
that before a start could be made on an African march, 
particularly after a long halt, there were hundreds of 
annoyances unknown in other countries. No one 
believes you wish to move till a display is made of 
your beads, by counting them out, stringing them, and 



112 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 

packing up the loads. The sight of these rouses the 
sultan : he, his family, and all the people of the place, 
begin to pester you for presents, and you would give 
worlds to be away from such intolerable bullying. 
Half your number of porters at last being collected to 
receive their pay, a momentary suspense takes place : 
the first man hesitates to accept the hire he had agreed 
for ; each man strives to lay the responsibility upon 
another ; but as soon as one accepts, instantly the rest 
scramble for it. Here are some extracts from my 
Journal previous to the march : — 

" 8th September. — Attempt to push all the engaged 
men ahead with their loads, in charge of Said, but fail, 
and half the day is lost by the native procrastina- 
tion. Said no better than the rest of them. After a 
long day of it, started off 40 loads and three donkeys 
ahead to first march, where they will wait for us. Ten 
paid-up porters not present. One says, * My wife is 
ill; I return my hire:' another, 'My father and 
mother won't allow me to accompany you.' I chastise 
him ; he puts himself under the protection of the sultan, 
and bolts, leaving his hire of calico blackened by one 
day's wear. A third wdll not go because I refuse him 
the leadership. Last night my men returned from 
searching for porters, saying, ' None will go unless you 
give them four times the usual hire.' 

" 9 th. — Three of my men have been away all day, 
and have not brought back a man. Wezees had pro- 
mised to come, but I have no faith in what they say; 
others ask triple hire. Twelve loads sent out by men 
of the advanced camp. 

"lO^A. — Cannot see a prospect of marching from 
here. Ordered Manua to Koongwa for porters ; saw 



EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 113 

him at night 'Have you been for porters?' 'Yes, 
there and back' I laughed at this cool assertion, and 
asked, 'How many did you get?' 'Four are coming 
in the morning/ This was too much, as all the Seedees 
satisfied me that he had never been out of the place ; 
I therefore ordered him to receive two dozen. Kehan 
(cook) said, ' / won't give it' ' You must,' I said ; 
but ultimately the matter was settled by Manua run- 
ning away, all the Seedees after him 1 (Manua after- 
wards became a great friend of mine, as he knew the 
names and uses of every plant and tree in the country.) 

"11 ih. — Yesterday sent a note to Speke, but find 
the bearer did not start, because he had a Wezee 
lady in tow. Verily these Africans are a self-pleas- 
ing and most trying set Two men off for porters. 
My leader reported sick. Manua (the man I ordered 
to be flogged yesterday) not to be found. Four por- 
ters arrive, but won't start till to-morrow, as they 
feel tired 1 

"12^A. — Start three loads; fourth man not pre- 
sent ; he had gone away to sleep in another village. 
Ten men came in from camp ahead to carry away 
my remaining traps. Sultan demands a present, 
but on consulting my men, we all agreed that as 
he had already got eight fathoms of cloth, a large 
quantity of beads, some gunpowder, aad had lost four 
cows placed in his charge, no more was necessary for 
him. At this decision he struck my porters and drove 
them out of his village, and seized some cases of 
ammunition and a rifle. The quarrel was made worse 
by the drunkenness of my chief interpreter, Kehan, 
who in this state threw his gun and accoutrements 
at my feet, spat upon one of my men, and gave his 

H 



114 EXTRACTS FROM JOURNAL. 

support to the sultan. After bearing these insults, 
and seeing the powder, &c, recovered, I walked out- 
side the village and sat down, feeling sick, sore at 
heart, and exhausted from the detestable strife, but 
thankful to God that I had so much command of 
temper. A servant reported that he and another 
must sleep that night with their loads in the village, 
as security for my paying some cloth and beads. 
Anything to get away, and I marched to my advanced 
camp, eight miles off, regretting that I had not bid 
adieu to the sultana. 

''1 3th. — Sent back the cloths to the sultan by 
Uledi. So jolly and civilised -like to have a note 
brought me by three or four Seedees from Speke, 
wanting me up sharp I Uledi returned at sunset^ 
having satisfied the sultan. Said, Rehan, and Baraka 
sent word they would be up in the morning ; so like 
an African's system of procrastination, winning the 
mornings and evenings from us, and saying the day 
is too hot to move. 

"lith. — March three miles to a wretched village. 
A number of men hanging on for hire ; one man pro- 
mised for Karague, and backed out of it because I 
frightened him by Awaiting his name down. Tried to 
make an afternoon march, but no one would stir ; be- 
sides, three loads were behind. 

" 1 5th. — Under way outside the ^dllage by six a.m. ; 
eight loads still on the ground, no porters to carry 
them, and loads in the rear belonging to men sleeping 
in other villages. Every day seems to be won from 
me. Countermand the march till the afternoon; a 
panic had struck the porters. The Watuta are at the 
next groimd from camp. I took the chief porter, 



WE ARE ATTACKED. 115 

walked there and back, 20 miles, by 3^ p.m., and 
found this much-dreaded tribe had left that morning. 
^^ 16 th. — Having aroused my camp, a noisy con- 
versation soon began with some strange armed men, 
who had been sent by Sultan Myonga to insist on my 
visiting him with my caravan ; but as I saw yester- 
day that his residence was completely out of my route, 
and as Speke had laid down that no further present 
should be made to him, his * soldiers^ were told this ; but, 
at the turn to their master's village, they planted their 
spears in defiance, and dared us to proceed by any but 
their way. We laughed at them, and held on our road 
for seven miles, when out of some thick cover came a 
howling of voices. I was about the third from the head 
of my Indian file, when a troop of about two hundred, 
with assigais, bows and arrows, burst upon us, spring- 
ing over the ground like cats. Passing the van, 
apparently without any intention of molesting us, or 
* showing their colours,' no one stopped even to look at 
them ; but of a sudden they broke in upon the centre 
of our line, and, with uplifted assigais and shouts, 
frightened the porters to give up their loads and fly, 
if they could escape the hands of the ruffians who 
were pulling their clothes and beads from them. See- 
ing my goods carried off*, I tried, without blood- 
shed, to prevent it; for they were too numerous 
to attack, as I had but one of my gun-men and two 
natives. On searching for others, I found Rehan with 
rifle at full cock, defending two loads against five of 
the men. He had been told by Manua that he was * a 
fool to think of the loads ; fly for your life I ' but the 
property, he said, was his life. On making for the 
village of the Sultan Myonga to seek redress, I was 



116 OUR PORTERS DESERT. 

told not to fear ; all would be returned mc : ' to go 
and reside in the village of his son, where all would 
be brought/ On proceeding thither I found that the 
natives had dressed themselves out in the stolen 
clothes of our men. I felt like a prisoner ; my bright 
hopes were wrecked ; and they all laughed at me as 
I stood amongst the mob of insolent marauders jeering 
and exulting at their triumph. Very little at that 
moment would have set things in a blaze ; but though 
honour was dear, the safety of the expedition was so 
also, and one false step would have endangered it 
They threatened, presenting assigais at my breast; but 
though I was defenceless, my rifle in its case resting 
harmlessly on my shoulder, they did not venture to 
strike, but scattered over the place. 

Fifteen of my 55 loads were returned during the 
day; 15 of 56 porters reappeared; two Wezees were 
reported killed, but instead of finding even a trace 
of them, I came upon three others concealed in the 
grass with their loads. Myonga was said to be in- 
furiated at his people ; he had cut ofi* the hand of 
one of his men, and promised that all, except the 
property of my porters, should be restored. The fol- 
lowing night the sultan sent, saying everything in 
his possession had been given up, but by my account 
there were still wanting six bead-loads, some cloth, my 
teapot, looking-glass, basin, pewter mug, a saw, a goat, 
&c. Every load was partially plundered; our most 
private keepings had been ruthlessly handled; and 
cases were destroyed by rocks and stones in trying to 
break them open. My porters, who had received their 
full hire to Karague, deserted; the march was de- 
layed ; and we had all been dishonoured. On making 



NEGOTIATING WITH MYONGA. 117 

this representation to the sultan, he expressed great 
sympathy at first, saying, ' Your property will all be 
restored, and you shall have men from me to convey 
your goods to Karague/ This was a mere ruse. In 
four days after the attack I was in a position, by aid 
sent me from Speke, to march ahead; but the Wezees 
said, * If you attempt a forced march, and leave with- 
out obtaining the sultan's permission, we will run 
away/ In reply to my request to be allowed to leave 
his country, saying I was satisfied with having re- 
covered so much, he very coolly replied, * I want no 
present from you, but must have your Seedees with 
their guns to aid me in an attack against a neigh- 
bour of mine/ But though two of my men volun- 
teered to go, intending to escape from him during 
the night, the proposal seemed preposterous; and, 
to settle the aJffair, a scarlet blanket was taken from 
my bedding and sent to the sultan, along with some 
other cloths. These were returned contemptuously, 
with a message that I must aid him with men and 
guns. The Seedees would not hear of my going 
to see this ruffian of a sultan, neither could they man- 
age him themselves ; their remonstrances and plead- 
ings had become stale. The natives in the mean time 
were boisterous, refusing our bead coinage. I tried to 
make use of my rifle in the jungles, but failed to get 
anything. In my rounds I only saw the brutality of the 
people towards traveUers in pouncing upon a party of 
four women and two men, demanding their bows and 
arrows, which I saved by interference. Again, the 
coarse fellows struck so brutally a donkey which Speke 
had with him on his former journey to Lake Nyanza> 
that the animal^ then in foal, died. For this no re- 



118 IN TREATY WITH MYONGA. 

dress could be obtained, because the oflfender was said 
to belong to a different village. But how were we to 
get away frora these annoyances, which were exhaust- 
ing to one's strength and patience ? Our porters began 
to desert, saying, what was the use of staying there — 
there was nothing to eat ? I was almost driven to giving 
up a gun or more, as I had seen the country traversed 
without them ; but on reference to Speke, who lay pros- 
trated with sickness twelve miles from me, I was told 
on no account to give guns, but to settle the tax, and 
join him at any sacrifice. Some Seedees under Bar- 
aka, who had a great deal of native bluster about him, 
arrived with a bound and dash, bringing Speke's mes- 
sage; and having armed himself and a dozen fol- 
lowers with ten rounds of ammunition each, Baraka 
went to the sultan, carrying an offer of forty fathoms of 
calico and ten wires of copper. The chief did not see 
why he should be treated so stingily ! * Other men of 
his rank get much handsomer presents; he merely 
asks for twenty coloured cloths, no guns, but he must 
have four barrels of powder, and don't forget the gentle- 
man's blanket ! ' To settle the matter, as we had been 
delayed seven days, one case of gunpowder, double the 
quantity of cloth, the scarlet blanket, and a bundle of 
beads were sent sorrowfully, but in the fdl hope of 
success. No ; we could not leave his country till one 
case of powder was given ; so the case was rendered, 
and his men were requested to take it to him. They 
then got up a noise because a box of percussion -caps 
had been taken out, and before going to their sultan 
they requested each a cloth for their trouble. Baraka 
again went to appeal; the box of caps was not wanted; 
the men were rebuked; one goat was given by the sultan 



THE WATUTA OR ZULU KAFIRS. 119 

to Baraka ; and we marched that afternoon, the 23d 
September, having been detained seven days, with 
wounded feelings, and with every howl of the exulting 
natives sinking deeply into our hearts. 

Some remarks upon the Watuta race may not be 
out of place here. They had lately been assisting 
Bolsema, a chief of the district, to defeat my friend 
Myonga, and had succeeded in capturing thirty of his 
cattle, and striking terror into the country. Although 
we never saw one of the tribe, we came upon their 
deserted camps, and had two men amongst our fol- 
lowers who had once been taken prisoners by them. 
To these two I am chiefly indebted for the following 
information. Their M'foomoo, or sultan, MTookoolla, 
has his headquarters at Malavie, a province bordering 
on the north-west shore of Lake Nyassa. A brother 
of his, called M'Tumbareeka, has wandered north to 
Utambaxa, and there formed a royal residence. They 
seldom go themselves in search of cattle and slaves, 
but send their wuzeers or officers, with several thou- 
sand foUowers, roaming over the country, leaving 
nothing but waste behind them. If they find a vil- 
lage without cattle, they demand slaves instead, never 
giving up the siege till some tax has been extorted. 
Some cases are told of their besieging a place for 
months, with their superior numbers encircling the 
village to prevent escape ; those who were so fortu- 
nate as to break through this Watuta cordon being 
looked upon by the country afterwards as having had 
a charmed life. The only race in the south that ever 
mastered them, and can pass through them, are the 
Wabeesa, living to their west. We had one of these 
people in camp, a young lad, so bold that he would 



120 THE WATUTA OR ZULU KAFIRS. 

show fight against our strongest follower. Men jBx)m 
the coast are sometimes found to enter their camp 
fearlessly; but, as a rule, every race in the interior is 
in continual dread of their amval They have large 
boats, with which they navigate the Nyassa lake, 
landing and making raids on the people of Nyassa 
and Uhiao. The pure race adopt the costiune of the 
Kafir in their extraordinary coverings; but as they 
are made up of many who love a life of freedom, or 
had been captured from villages in childhood, the race 
must be a very mixed one. Their arms are two or 
three very small short spears, which they never throw, 
but, with a leather shield in the left hand protecting 
their own bodies, they close upon their foe ; and, if 
he resists being captured as a slave, stab him. We 
once were encamped in a village when, at night, the 
drums beat the alarm — ^tap, tap, slowly, increasing to 
a tremendous roll. This was to warn all that the 
Watuta were on the move in the vicinity, and might 
take this village on their way; however, they did not 
come to it till some days after we had left it, when 
the people got warning and escaped. We saw their 
camp in a circle of fence, completely surrounding a vil- 
lage, at a distance of 200 yards. Forked sticks were 
stuck in the ground to support the cow-skins which 
their women carry to shade them during the day fit)m 
the sun. Most comfortable beddings of grass lay on 
the ground; or, when long in one place, their huts 
were a half- orange shape, very low, and surrounded 
by a fence made from the euphorbia, which is ima- 
gined to be poisonous, and only fit for the use of the 
Watuta. 

The chief Myonga, who plundered my caravan, and 



OUR SEEDEES STRIKE FOR DOUBLE PAY. 121 

the eight or ten" other petty chiefs whose country we 
had to pass through afterwards, were not a whit better 
than the Watuta, and the wonder is they did not take 
everything from us. It was only because they feared 
being shot or bewitched, or come down upon by their 
neighbouring chiefs, that they desisted. When one 
is known to possess wealth, obtained by tax or by 
plunder, jealousy and quarrels are the certain result. 
"We no sooner heard the vile sound of the war-dnmi 
to collect the natives, and intimidate our party into 
the settlement of the tax, than our porters would 
desert ; and when the drums beat a " receipt" for all 
demands, and we were free to move out of their 
clutches, our Wezee porters would get up a row with 
us, and demand more cloth, thus causing us to suflFer 
as much annoyance from friend as from foe ; and often 
they would run away in a body as soon as they got 
what they wanted Nothing we could devise seemed 
to succeed, till their bows and arrows were seized, and 
they had got so far on the journey that going back 
through these boisterous races to their homes without 
arms would have been as bad as death to them. One 
trouble over, we had others : our Seedees, who had 
been engaged and paid at the British Consulate of 
Zanzibar to accompany us, struck for double pay and 
increased allowance for rations. Their complaints 
were calmly listened to ; and when it was told that 
they might leave our service but lay down their arms, 
they surrendered them, but thought better of it the 
following morning, and only three of them deserted 
These constant drains upon our resources had one 
good effect — they lightened our baggage; and after 
the enormous tax levied by the sultan and under- 



122 A WATERFALL, 

chiefs of Usui, we were fi^r in the interior at Eara- 
gue, with certainly not enough of beads to last us six 
months. 

The first sixteen marches from Ukuni were through 
very pleasant undulations of tall soft grass and um- 
brageous forest-trees, spots here and there being cleared 
for cultivation, and capable of yielding grain for one 
or two thousand travellers throughout a season. On 
getting into Usui the watershed had changed ; all ran 
to Victoria Nyanza. Our path crossed three or four 
escarped hills, tailing gently off to lower ground ia 
the north. About Lohagattee there waa picturesque 
scenery. Delightfully wild rocks and crags inter- 
spersed with trees overhung the valleys, reminding 
one of the echoing cliffs over the Lake of Killamey. 
A waterfall, too, added a rare charm to this part of the 
journey. The water fell upon hard, black, volcanic-like 
boulders of conglomerate, in a cascade of two cubic 
feet fit)m the top of the escarpment seventy feet in 
height Amongst the spray beautiful ferns and mosses 
grew in great luxuriance, recalling many a ramble at 
home for plants and objects of natural history; but 
though crabs were about the water, no land-shells were 
found. The natives came into camp asking why the 
fall had been visited by the white man. Did he mean 
to stop the water that supplied the whole valley, by 
turning its course or drinking up its waters ? Their 
chief, we heard, when rain is required, goes through a 
propitiatory ceremony at this spot to bring it in abund- 
ance ; but as this year rain had fallen at its usual season, 
their fears were easily calmed. The rain-doctor had 
put out his magic instruments under a tree by the 
20th October, and expected it abundantly at new 



CRYSTAL WATER. 123 

moon, fifteen days afterwards, when his year would 
have expired. He begged for a piece of paper to 
assist him, and on getting half a sheet of foolscap, 
said he would prefer paper written over ! From the 
26 th of September, and during October, we had very 
pleasant showers and slight thunderstorms. At new 
moon, on the 2d November, as the doctor predicted, 
we had a heavy wind-storm, with pelting rain ; but by 
the 5th, our magical horn, the rain-gauge, had worked 
its charm and stopped the rain ! When in low ground, 
or where water was lying near the surface, the mornings 
were so cold that gloves would have been a comfort. 
During the day the sun was oppressive, but in the 
shade, with a N.E. wind generally blowing, it was 
agreeably cooL Water was everywhere abundant the 
first half of the journey, in wells dug outside the vil- 
lages, and in the boggy dips which drained the country 
to the north in the latter half. For the first time in 
Africa, we got clear crystal water bursting from under 
the hard stratified rock of the parallel ranges of Usui ; 
and whether it was that the water was purer, that the 
season had changed, or that we were in a finer climate, 
the men suffered less in health during the months of 
October and November than during any previous time 
of the year. Speke was rapidly recovering from his 
dangerous chest complaint ; and instead of my fever 
visits, I had only periodical nausea in the morning, 
occurring about every ten dajrs during the march. 

Greologically, the country of Uzinza has a great deal 
of interest^ being broken up into so many varied forms. 
One day, from the path of splintered rock, you may 
contemplate the face of a long, bare, sloping hill, the 
surface of which is half rock half bog, giving it the 



124 THE PLANTAIN FIELDS. 

wild dreary look of a Highland moor in the heart of 
Africa, but with this diflFerence, that a garden of plan- 
tain forms part of the landscape. Again, pick up a 
walnut-sized nodule of iron, covered with a rusty red 
dust, and think how rudely, how quietly, they turn it 
into a spear that glistens like steel ! Again, see the 
long high escarpments, and wonder at the power that 
had raised them into such a position. The volcanic 
mounds in Kishakka, seen from the spur above Vi- 
hemb^, were most curious, so many of them rising in 
one part of the horizon like mole-heaps on the earth's 
surface, some of their tops nearer us being sterile and 
of red grit, their sides strewed over with white quartz 
fragments; others clothed with pale green grass to 
their very summits, and dotted with trees sweeping 
down to, and shading with verdure, the valleys below. 
Their forms were saddle-shaped, horse-shoes, and frus- 
tums of cones; many were crowned with rock, and 
nearly all had stratified splinters bristling from their 
sides. The eastern slopes below the escarpments, 
where the debris lay, were more cultivated than the 
western rocky parts. The natives bestowed great care 
on their fields, hoeing them up by the 8th October for 
the expected rain, collecting the weeds in heaps with 
a forked stick, and burning them. Fields of plantain- 
trees were grown, each tree six feet apart. From the 
fruit a sweet spirituous wine is made, tasting some- 
what like still hock, and quite as pleasant. The de- 
cayed leaves and steins of the plantain were allowed 
to remain on the ground to preserve the roots and 
soil from the heat of the sun, and afibrd nourishment 
to a crop of beans, " maharageh,'' peculiar to this coun- 
try, and often grown in the shade of the trees. The 



CATTLE AND GAME. 125 

other crops seen ripening in November, were Indian 
com and manioc; sweet potato was ripe and abim- 
dant ; sorghum, " M'tama," at that season, was scarce 
and dear ; tobacco, fowls, goat, and cows were more 
expensive than we had found them in Unyamuezi. 

The cattle looked wildly at our dress, and were here 
a diflferent breed — ^namely, the heavy, ungraceful, large- 
homed variety of Karague, without humps, and many 
of them probably from Unyoro, hornless, like the Tees- 
water breed, but bony and gaimt from bad grazing. 
All night the people allow their cattle to remain in 
the field, without any fence, standing roimd smoulder- 
ing fires by their habitations. I observed at cow- 
milking time the skin of a calf placed in front of one 
cow, when she licked it all over, and while her hind- 
legs were tied with a thong, the milk was taken. In 
a goat that was killed, a black glazed ball of hair very 
much resembling its own was foimd inside : no cattle 
diseases were heard of. The manner our men had of 
getting hold of a vicious cow was quite African. A 
noose is laid on the ground, she is driven over it tiU 
by perseverance she is caught ; or if she is to be killed, 
they chase her with a sword-bayonet, and either ham- 
string or break the bone of a hiid-leg. 

In the southern forests of Uzinza, hartebeest, eland, 
zebra, pig, and various species of antelope might be 
shot from horseback or on foot, as there is a wide 
range of fine country for them ; but the greatest num- 
ber and variety of animals I saw in Africa were in the 
valley of Urigi, which is the boimdary between Uzinza 
and Karague ; all the above animals, with the rhino- 
ceros and giraffe, might certainly be seen any morning 
by the sportsman. The valley or plain is covered with 



126 GAME-BIBDS. 

four-feet-high grasses, is from three to four miles 
broad, and probably twenty miles long, evidently once 
forming part of Victoria Nyanza. We coimted four- 
teen rhinoceros upon the plain below ; they were so 
numerous that while marching they were often within 
gunshot, aflfording us excellent sport had we chosen 
to follow them up. Instead of being frightened, one 
of these rhinoceros walked up towards me till I whistled 
at sixty paces, which was close enough; but the bul- 
let from one of the men's rifles only made him put 
a twist in his tail and trot oflf proudly over the grassy 
plain for three miles, tripping repeatedly, and halting 
for an instant to give himself a shake, as if he had been 
stimg. No elephants were seen — ^it was too open a 
country for them; hyena were rarely heard; porcu- 
pine-quills were picked up in the woods ; serpents, we 
saw few or none ; beeswax was never met with, though 
hives made out of logs were occasionally. Of game- 
birds the most plentiful was the guinea-fowl near the 
cultivations. The natives of Usui will not eat the 
fowl, but the Walinga, a class of people who work in 
iron and its nodules, have no objection. Florikan were 
shot; also a species of partridge quite new to me. I 
was attracted by their curious gait in running with 
their bodies thrown back : their call, too, was strange 
— "cock, cock, ko-cocV or " chick-a-chick, chick-a- 
chick," not unlike the Himalayan cheer-pheasant's 
voice ; our Seedees called it the " Booee.'' Its throat 
and roimd the eyes were an orange red; one was 
double-spurred, and weighed 1^ lb. 

WhUe delayed by the sultan of Usui for fifteen 
days in settling his tax, we foimd the above partridge 
amongst the bushes of the valley; also numbers of 



SWALLOWS A2^'D THE KING OF BIRDS. 127 

pretty birds of no value except as specimens. We 
observed three fine species of swallow on the wing ; 
the prettiest was entirely black, except on the fore- 
head and under the lower mandible, where it was 
snow-white; a smaller was black all over, and both 
had forked tails, and frequented craggy groimd. 
A larger species have red belly and chest, whitish 
throat, some white imder the wings, long forked 
tail and general colour black, frequenting groimd 
covered with brushwood. The smallest seen was 
black with white belly, red over forehead and under 
the lower mandible, with forked tail. Black birds 
the size and shape of robins flew from tree to 
tree; water-wagtails were familiar with our camp; 
creepers hopped amongst the bushes ; smaller genera 
Vere in flights; and a peculiar-looking bird, with 
plain brown plumage and long tail, was shot amongst 
the rushes. Though mentioned last, our Seedees 
considered this the king of birds. He is called the 
" Mlinda,'' and he moves escorted by a staff* of little 
birds, whose duty it is, should a feather fall from the 
king, to tear it to pieces, thus preventing its being 
put upon an arrow. A similar tale is told with refer- 
ence to the tippet-monkey, who is said to believe his 
handsome skin so much coveted, that when woimded 
he tears out all his beautiful long hair, to prevent 
your making use of it I The skin of the Mlinda 
is as thick as that of a mouse, the feathers might be 
called hairy, the bill is stronger than a linnet's, and 
the feet are soft and red. Our men were much pleased 
during a march to meet with a bird they called the 
"kong-ofa :" we were certain to have luck attending 
UB when it was seen 1 



128 THE SULTAN OP USUL 

The most powerful chief on our route through 
Uziuza was Suwarora of Usui — a Wahuma by caste, 
but a superstitious creature, addicted to drink, and 
not caring to see us, but exacting through his subor- 
dinates the most enormous tax we had yet paid. His 
chief officer or " sirhidge '^ was a Watusi ; and when 
he called upon us dressed in the most ridiculous 
costume — a woman's crimson cotton gown, a red- 
check turban, and " saharee " thrown roimd his shoul- 
ders — he was treated with every respect, and got a 
chair. We had time to make his acquaintance. He 
was middle-aged, with a dissipated, reckless look, full 
of animated conversation, very black, with flat nose 
and prominent teeth. His legs were masses of iron 
wire, fitting as tight as a stocking. He had many 
favours to ask ; he would like so much to have a pair 
of our shoes, &c. He had sent two men, bearing the 
royal rod of his " MTiama '' or sultan, to convey us 
with safety into the country. He hoped they had 
done their duty, for no Arab had ever such an honour 
paid him. There were ridiculous stories going about 
regarding us — as that we were possessed of super- 
natural powers, that we killed all the inhabitants of 
the coimtry we passed through, and that we took 
possession of all coimtries ; but, on his consulting the 
M'ganga, these reports were proved to be false, and we 
WTre admitted into the country. He paid us a second 
visit, dressed in a much less gaudy suit ; and while 
he sat, eating coffee from a little basket he carried, we 
suggested that the tax had better be settled soon ; but 
he treated the matter with great indifference, saying, 
" Oh, don't press it ; let it take its time I My brother 
will arrange it the day after to-morrow, because I have 



THE WANYAMBO OF USUI. 129 

to go into the district to see some patients ; and now 
I must bid you adieu." The previous night he had 
sent us a message that some handsome cloths would 
be acceptable if we would have the kindness to present 
them. We did so, and in return he gave us two goats, 
and we saw no more of him. 

The brother of the sirhidge, a more morose person, 
now came into the field, and said, " Before I can even 
broach the subject of your arrival here to his highness 
the MTcama (sultan), I expect a present;" and so the 
treaty dragged its length for several days, till officers 
appeared in camp pronoimcing the demand, with little 
sticks to represent each article. About five men's 
loads of copper were paid and carried away for the 
chief by our men. Although the tax was heavy, it 
was conducted in a gentlemanly, quiet way, and much 
quicker than we had expected, on accoimt, it was said, 
of their fear to detain magicians longer in the country. 
The last extortion was, that guides must escort us to 
the frontier, and they had to be paid a load of copper 
between them. 

The people of the coimtry, generally called Wan- 
yambo, dress in nothing but goat-skins, the length and 
shape of the tails of a shooting-coat, without pockets 
or buttons; a thong of leather ties this smartly roimd 
the waist, right side uppermost, and is slackened on 
sitting down ; this forms their entire costume. With 
a variously-shaped spear or a bow and arrow (some- 
times poisoned), they looked very active, slim fellows, 
having a far greater air about them than the Wezee. 
A tuft of wool is often left on their crowns ; some- 
times the teeth are entire, or the two upper incisors 
filed inside, but none are ever extracted. Some of the 

[ 



130 SHOOT THIEVES. 

people cover the body and arms with artificially raised 
solid blisters, in circles, waves, or lines. Their address, 
when it suited them, was that of cringing politeness, 
showing great respect every morning ; but they could 
also be boisterous and insolent. The Wasui race can 
seldom be induced to carry loads ; but amongst them 
numerous Wezees, driven from their homes by the 
Watuta, reside, and the traveller receives aid from 
them. A M'sui will carry a load on his head, but not 
upon the shoulder. On coming into camp to see the 
novelties, all the better class had a gourd of pomb^ in 
one hand, and generally chewed cofiee-beans. Round 
their ankles was a profusion of wires, generally more 
upon one leg than another. One stranger I saw 
wearing round his neck a flat piece of stone, which I 
thought to be malachite. 

In this country we were more troubled by thieves 
than we had been anywhere else. After sunset our 
porters when beyond camp were assaulted, and their 
cloth coverings torn from them. At night they made 
several attempts to get inside our ring-fence of thofns, 
and the thefts became so numerous that we had to shoot 
two or three found plimdering. The people rather 
approved of our doing this, and complimented us on 
being so alert and watchful during the night. They 
seemed generally to be an industrious people, with 
comfortable " crofts'' roimd their houses. 

The Walinga are workers in iron, scarcely distin- 
guishable in dress from the Wasui. Their furnaces 
are in the heart of the forest ; charcoal and lumps of 
iron cinder (like a coarse sponge, and of a " blue bottle" 
colour) usuaQy mark the spot ; and four lads, squatting 
imder a grass roof with a double-handled bellows each, 



A WATUSI QUEEN. 131 

blow at a live mass of charcoal which has the nodules 
of metal intermixed with it. In this calcining nothing 
else seems to be used, and the metal melts, descending 
into a recess, much in the same way as I have seen at 
the Cumberland lead- works. 

One morning, to my surprise, in a wild jimgle we 
came upon cattle, then upon a " bomah," or ring-fence, 
concealed by beautiful umbrageous large trees, quite 
the place for a gypsy camp. At the entry two strap- 
ping fellows met me and invited my approacL I 
mingled with the people, got water fix>m them, and 
was asked, " Would I not prefer some milk ? '* This 
sounded to me more civilised than I expected from 
Africans, so I followed the men, who led me up to a 
beautiful ladylike creature, a Watusi woman, sitting 
alone under a tree. She received me, without any 
expression of surprise, in the most dignified manner ; 
and, after having talked with the men, rose smiling, 
showing great gentleness in her manner, and led me 
to her hut I had time to scrutinise the interesting 
stranger: she wore the usual Watusi costume of a 
cow's skin reversed, teased into a frieze with a needle, 
coloured brown, and wrapped roimd her body from 
below the chest to the ankles. Lappets, showing 
zebra-like stripes of many colours, she wore as a " turn- 
over"' roimd the waist; and, except where ornamented 
on one arm with a highly polished coil of thick brass 
wire, two equally bright and massive rings on the 
right wrist, and a neck pendant of brass wire, — except 
these and her becoming wrapper, she was au naturelle. 
I was struck with her peculiarly formed head and 
graceful long neck; the beauty of her fine eyes, 
mouth, and nose; the smallness of her hands and 



132 WOMEN OF USUI. 

naked feet — all were faultless ; the only bad feature, 
which is considered one of beauty with them, was 
her large ears. The arms and elbows were rounded 
oflf like an egg, the shoulders were sloping, and her 
small breasts were those of a crouching Venus — a 
perfect beauty, although darker than a brunette ! 
Her temporary residence was peculiar — it was formed 
of grass, was flat-roofed, and so low that I could not 
stand upright in it. The fireplace consisted of three 
stones ; milk -vessels of wood, shining white from 
scouring, were ranged on one side of the abode. A 
good-looking woman sat rocking a gourd between her 
knees in the process of churning butter. After the 
fair one had examined my skin and my clothes, I ex- 
pressed great regret that I had no beads to present 
to her. " Tliey are not wanted," she said : " sit down, 
drink this buttermUk, and here is also some butter for 
you." It was placed on a clean leaf. I shook hands, 
patted her cheek, and took my leave, but some beads 
were sent her, and she paid me a visit, bringing butter 
and buttermilk, and asking for more presents, which 
she of course got, and I had the gratification to see 
her eyes sparkle at the sight of them. This was one 
of the few women I met during our whole journey 
that I admired. None of the belles in Usui could 
approach her; but they were of a different caste, 
though dressing much in the same style. When cow- 
skins were not worn, these Usui women dressed very 
tidily in bark cloths, and had no marks or cuttings 
observable on their bodies. Circles of hair were often 
shaved off the crowns of their heads, and their neck 
ornaments showed considerable taste in the selection 
of the beads. The most becoming were a string of the 



CAIRNS OF STONES. 133 

M'zizima, spheres of marble-sized white porcelain, and 
triangular pieces of shell, rounded at the comers. An 
erect fair girl, daughter of a chief, paid us a visit, 
accompanied by six maids, and sat silently for half an 
hour. She had a spiral circle of wool shaved off the 
crown of her head ; her only ornament was a necklace 
of green beads : she wore the usual wrapper, and across 
her shoulders a strip of scarlet cloth was thrown ; her 
other fineries were probably left at home. The women 
of the district generally had grace and gentleness in 
their manner. 

The plump little negro girls who came about our 
camp, standing with crossed arms and looking very 
frightened, are never allowed to shave their heads till 
they get married, consequently the hair is in matted 
tufts or mops, very ugly, with a triangular or square 
space shaved on the crown : if ornamented with 
cowries, the black wool appears to more advantage. 
They are not allowed to wear the usual clothing of 
women, but have the skin of a goat, with the hair in- 
side, round their loins, and so arranged that fix)m the 
waist to the knee it remains open, exposing completely 
the right thigh. Not having lived in their villages, 
we could not see any of their customs. The chief of 
Usui's residence, entitled Quikooroo, was a set of grass 
huts, encircled by three concentric fences of thorn, the 
largest one being two to three miles round. The other 
huts in the valley had no fence whatever, except where 
planted round with a dense quickset of euphorbia, 
growing from twelve to twenty feet high. Sometimes 
by the pathway we observed cairns of stones, such as 
are found all over the world, and our leading porters 
generally threw their mite on the heap. In Hindostan 



134 LANGUAGE AND DANCING. 

they would be called " Peer ke jaggeh," places of devo- 
tion ; and our Seedees called them " M'zeemoo." A 
rock was also passed, on which our porters placed 
pebbles. 

The language of the country was quite unintelligible 
to our men — I mean as spoken by the Watusi, who are 
the reigning race here ; but they did not find it diffi- 
cult to pick up some words and phrases. It was not 
so hard as the dialect of Unyamuezi, which they con- 
sidered more "bharee" (difficult). If one Seedee wishes 
to address another by saying, "I say," or "Old fel- 
low ! " he calls " Somoh I " — if a Muezi, " Doogoh 
yango ! " — if a M'sui, " Kunewani ! " — if a M'ganda, 
^ Awang^h ! " There is no similarity in these ; conse- 
quently, to speak to any M'ganda, two interpreters 
were at first necessary, until our men picked up 
some of their language ; but in their nimierals they 
were almost the same. 

The style of dance at Myonga's seemed to be pecu- 
liar to the country. It was conducted, without arms 
or any rough coarseness, by moonlight, in an open 
space, all the lads and lasses collecting without music. 
A circle was formed, singing and clapping of hands 
conmienced, and either a woman made her most grace- 
ful curtsy to a favourite in the crowd, and retired 
skilfully backwards to her place, or a young fellow 
bounded into the centre, threw himself into attitudes, 
performed some gymnastic feat, bowed to the prettiest, 
and then made way for the next champion or fair 
lady. 

After I had joined Speke at Bogweh on the 7th 
October 1861, a letter was received by him from 
Colonel Rigby, the consul at Zanzibar, dated Slst 



STRANGER VISITORS. 135 

October 1860, advising the despatch of brandy, biscuit, 
and cigars, &c. ; and that our letters were in another 
packet. We, of course, were delighted at receiving this 
news^ — a whole year had elapsed without any commu- 
nication whatever from the outer world ; but where 
were the letters and supplies ? " Oh, they must have 
been lost in Ugogo, where the Arabs had gone to 
fight I *' Whatever was the cause, our letters were cut 
off from us for the period of twenty-seven months — 
viz., from October 1860 to February 1863, when we 
got to Gondokoro. We had consequently to content 
ourselves with the news of the countries around us. 
Stories from men who had seen snow on the top of 
Eolimanjaro; with accounts of a tribe to the south of it 
who rode on horseback, and a salt lake called Lebassa 
in that direction; or the appearance of a M'ganda, tall, 
stout, broad-nostrilled, seen for the first time, gave me 
a longing desire, from his manly and true African look, 
to reach his coimtry. The dress of this people was 
formed of gaily-coloured goat-skins and bark cloths, 
well arranged, striking, and becoming; their accoutre- 
ments and drums were got up with neataess and sim- 
plicity; their drapery perfectly concealed the whole 
body, except the head, feet, and hands ; and once a 
strapping girl, of a tribe still farther off, was shown to 
us as an Unyoro. Having since then seen her race, 
known by the extraction of the lower incisors, I can 
state that we were not imposed upon. 

In the next chapter will be described the country 
of Karague, which reminded me of the English Lake 
district An Arab caravan, like our own, but of 250 
loads, had got ahead of us, and having settled their 
tax with the Usui chief, the men were plodding on to 



136 OUR TABLE-ATTENDANT. 

the ivory and slave mart. In their file two men and 
a girl were in chains together — no doubt recent invest- 
ments. Our Seedees, by their curious ways, continued 
to amuse us. Our table-attendant, Mabrook, or Bur- 
ton's " buU-headed Mabruki," was a thorough African, 
so opposite to what an Indian servant is. Ever naked 
from head to waist (and looking gross with fatness), he 
would come up to " lay the table," wliistling or singing, 
with a bunch of knives, spoons, and forks in his hand ; 
having placed the tin lids and pots at our feet, he 
would squat on the ground beside them and dole out 
our dinner. Should he have to clean your plate, a 
bunch of grass or a leaf is generally within his reach ; 
and, if he has to remove the plate, he seldom returns 
without wiping his mouth. He chaffs his comrades as 
he sits by you ; and dinner over, you see him eating 
with your spoons and drinking out of the teapot or 
the spout of the kettle. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

KARAGUE, NOVEMBER 25 TO APRIL 14, 1862 — THE ROYAL FAMILY 
— HABITS OF THE SULTAN RUMANIKA — CRUSADER-LIKE 
CUSTOM AT NEW MOON — IDOLATRY — THE SULTAN'S BROTHERS 
— DESCRIPTION OF KARAGUE AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD — 
ILLNESS OF THE AUTHOR — ENGLISH GARDEN PEASE — MAR- 
KETS, COFFEE-TRADERS — ^EARLIEST INFORl^LiTION REGARDING 
THE NILE — ^THE TWO RACES OF KARAGUE, THE WAHUMA AND 
WAYAMBO — ^THE PRINCESSES — ^ROYAL RESIDENCE — ^MUSICAL 
INSTRUMENTS. 

The royal family of Karague consisted of three bro- 
thers and their families. Their father, Dagara, had 
died about eight years previous to our visit. He had 
lived to a good old age ; was almost a giant in height, 
with leprous hands, of the Wahuma caste ; was esteemed 
a wise and sagacious prince, and was very popular with 
the people. On his death, his body was sewn up in 
the skin of a cow, and placed inside a hut, with several 
women and cattle, who were there all left to die and 
moulder to dust. The question of succession was dis- 
puted by three surviving sons, and the test as to who 
should ultimately rule was that some sacred emblem 
would be placed before all, and whoever should raise it 
from the groimd would become the reigning sovereign. 



138 RUMANIKA OF BLAJIAGUE. 

Eumanika, not the eldest, was found to be the only 
one of the three competent, or who felt conscientiously 
that he could support the dignity of the position by 
raising this weight from the ground ; consequently he 
was elected. From that time a younger brother, Ro- 
gaerah, became his bitter enemy, and fled to a comer 
of the province, taking with him a great proportion of 
the people with their cattle, as he was the more gener- 
ous and the greater favourite of the two brothers. 
But Rumanika's mother had to be got rid of before 
he could properly hold the reins of govenmient ; and 
by some magic medicine she was killed, and he was 
declared ** M^kama of Karague.'' 

Although iUness prevented my seeing so much of 
Rumanika as I should otherwise have liked, I could 
not but notice that he was the handsomest and most 
intelligent sovereign we had met with in Africa. He 
stood six feet two inches in height, and his coimte- 
nance had a fine, open, mild expression. There was 
nothing of the African look about him, except that he 
had wool instead of hair. His dress was a robe of 
numerous skins of small antelopes sewn together, and 
knotted over one shoulder, with a loin-cloth underneath; 
or an Arab cloak or shawl of bark-cloth hung from 
his shoulder, reaching below the knee. Going about 
with nothing on his head, his arms bare, except 
conmion ornaments of beads or brass, with painted 
porcelain beads on his ankles, and carrying a long 
stafi*, he was altogether the picture of the gentle shep- 
herd of his flock. His four young sons, of ages from 
sixteen to twenty-four, were tall, smart, nice-looking 
young fellows — quite gentlemanly in their manners, 
and very cleanly in their persons and dress. There 



HIS WIVES AND FAMILY. 139 

was a younger son, an infant, always kept at the royal 
residence, and not allowed out. The five wives of the 
king have been described by Captain Speke : several 
were of enonnous proportions, unable to enter the door 
of an ordinary hut, requiring a person on each side to 
support them when moving from one place to another, 
and expressing great delight at any present the 
" Wazoongo '' (white men) should send their lord and 
master. Their diet, and that of the sons and daugh- 
ters, was generally boiled plantain or milk. They 
considered their existence depended on the latter 
article of food, and certainly they all throve admirably 
upon it — ^the sons were full of vigour, and the women 
were fat and healthy, though not prolific. On Captain 
Speke asking to be allowed to take a young prince to 
England for education, the cry was, " They had never 
been more than ten miles from home; how could 
they go? — ^there would be no milk for them — ^they 
would die.'' Probably they had also some dread that 
the lads would be made slaves of All of them were 
very particular and fastidious as to their diet. 

The sultan drank milk; thought the meat of goat 
and sheep unclean; would not eat fish, fowl, or guinea- 
fowl; rarely or never touched stirabout; and merely 
sucked the juice of boiled beef He drank very little 
plaintain-wine, and was never known to be intoxicated. 
He had many superstitions; he would not drink out 
of the vessel that we or any commoner had used, and 
he combined the offices of prophet, priest, and king. 
As prophet, he would place the tusks of an elephant 
upright on the groimd, fill them with charms, seal 
them, and predict rain, although his calculations 
were not always correct. As priest, three days after 



140 king's fondness for curiosities. 

new moon, he sat concealed, all but his head, in the 
doorway of his chief hut, and received the salutations 
of his people, who, one by one, shrieked and sprang in 
front of him, swearing aUegiance. His head on these 
occasions was wonderfully dressed, and made to look 
quite patriarchal, with a crown of beads and feathers, 
and a false white beard of considerable length, giving 
him the look of an Indian " khitmutgar " or Jewish 
rabbi He was very fond of curiosities, and amongst 
the collection he had obtained from Arab ^dsitors were 
stuflfed birds, an electric battery, looking-glasses, a 
clock with eyes in the cast-iron figure made to roll 
with the movement of the pendulum, &c. He expressed 
surprise that we had brought nothing to amuse him, 
so that all our ingenuity was put to the test in order 
to try and gratify his highness. A jumping-jack 
made of wood was sent him for his infant son, and 
he said he must have me make him one the size of 
life before I left the country. He had a three-poimder 
brass gun brought him unmounted from the coast; 
and on a picture being sent him, showing how we in 
India drag guns into action by means of elephants, 
nothing would satisfy him tiU he had ordered fifty 
men to cut down trees, to be made into a gun-carriage. 
I protested, saying, " You have no iron — no elephant ; 
who is to make the wheels?" Here was a dilemma — 
a wheel to make before I could be allowed to join my 
companion, and nothing to make it with but a pen- 
knife in my pocket 1 Luckily my friend Rumanika 
was not pig-headed, and had compassion on me when 
it was explained to him that ropes of bark, and men 
to drag the gun, would not answer the purposes of 
iron and elephant. 



HIS VENERATION FOR LIONS. 141 

Tliis sovereign several times came to call while I 
lay sick, one day bringing me a fish alive in a jar 
from the lake ; this pleased me, as the Wahuma have a 
prejudice against fish. But his chief delight seemed 
to be in medicines and pictures. It was an anxious 
moment when our tent was emptied of all listeners, 
and we were pressed for a medicinal charm to bring 
about the death of his brother Rogaerah. Then, 
during the visit, the weight of the mercury, its reflec- 
tions, &c., were looked at in amazement ; the compass 
— "was there water in it?*' — our shoes, our bedding — 
all were marvels. With the sextant he looked through 
at the sun without fear; and when consulted one morn- 
ing by my servant about some strange large animals 
that came in at night to our camp, he recommended 
that the next time they appeared we should challenge 
them three times, and if no answer were received, to 
fire at them ; for " depend upon it they were enemies 
sent by his rebel brother to lay a trap for him.'* 
Should they, however, prove to be leopards, they were 
not to be molested. For all leopards they have a 
great reverence, asDagara, the late sovereign, is believed 
to be still protected by them; and on an invading army 
coming from Uganda, this sultan had the power to 
send leopards to disperse them. Their skins are only 
worn by royalty or its followers. The sultan, on 
seeing the picture of some of his milk-carriers, sent 
for the sketch-book, turned out all idlers, and showed 
them to a few favourite servants about his family. 
His wives were quite clamorous about seeing them, 
asking why Rumanika had not been drawn. The 
back view of a naked young prince, enormously fat, 
with clotted long hair concealing his neck, gave them 



>-. ^^^...^^ -->, 



142 THE KING S BROTHER, MNANAGEE. 

great amusement, and they clapped their hands and 
laughed with joy at the resemblance to the original 
All the princesses living in separate houses got jealous 
unless they saw the sketches, so that my servant was 
several times detained a whole day by them ; and it 
became so fashionable to look at the pictures, that for 
days my camp was beset with people wishing to have 
their curiosity gratified. M'nanagee, the brother of 
the sultan, a man of six feet three inches in height, 
brought his favourite bow to be ornamented with 
pictures. There never was a prettier bit of stick ; it 
was exactly his own height, of ash-coloured wood, bent 
merely at the ends, balanced beautifully, not a curve in 
it that could hurt the eye, and it was strung with the 
sinews of a cow. He could with ease throw an arrow, 
by giving it a high flight, 150 or 200 yards. Wishing 
to enlighten and amuse Rumanika, I sent him colomred 
pictures of our soldiers, and of men in ordinary costume ; 
these he admired very much, but could I not show him 
how our ladies looked ? Certainly. Figures of three 
ladies were painted — one in morning costume, one at 
an archery meeting using the bow and arrow, and a 
third in baU costume. He immediately hung all up 
on the waU of his smaU hut ; and on inquiring which 
figure pleased him most, the palm was given to the 
evening costume. 

Whenever he wished to spend the day at a spot on 
the hill across the lake, where I think his father had 
been interred, he was carried in a basket, made of 
osiers, by four men. The band led the way with 
music; several himdred followers surrounded him; 
and if he was on the return journey, smaU fat bojrs, 
having their heads wreathed with water-lilies plucked 



A BAND OF THIRTY-THREE DRUMS. 143 

in the lake as they ferried over, danced and skipped 
up the hill the whole way to the sound of the pleasing 
drum and bugle band. His revenue was said to be 
one jar out of every three of plantain-wine ; and aU 
his guests conaing fixtm the neighbouring provinces 
had to be fed by the farmers around. It has always 
been the custom of Uganda, Usui, and Karague, that 
when any one of their chiefs sends messengers to the 
other, the royal bearers are free to settle where they 
like, and to provision themselves as they require from 
the stores of the people, no payment being ever taken 
for anything. Plantain is so common that nothing is 
said if a stranger is seen plucking a bunch from a 
tree; but at night many disturbances and frequent 
fights occur when a raid is made for goats. Stones 
fly, spears axe thrown, and aU is in confusion, if any- 
thing beyond a bunch of plantain is attempted to be 
carried oflf. 

We were asked to witness a new-moon ceremony. 
This generally t^kes place three days after the first 
appearance of the luminary, and it was celebrated as 
usual by our men firing volleys in the air. The sultan 
assimies the priestly garb, and dons his long, false, 
white beard on this occasion. His whole body re- 
mains concealed behind a screen, and he has beside 
him his insignia of office, either a small drum, or an 
instrument which no one but himself can raise. The 
drums, generally thirty-three, are on the ground, in 
a line, each having a large white cross on its head — a 
strange Crusader-like custom. A man stands behind 
each, and the leader, with two small drums, is in fix)nt 
to give the time. On his raising the right arm, the 
thirty-three drummers do the same, then the left arm. 



144 STORIES TOLD BY THE SULTAN. 

and they gradually beat the drums quicker, till end- 
ing in a tremendous roll. This continues for three 
hours, with intervals, and is repeated the day follow- 
ing. A band of hand-drums is near the sultan's hut, 
giving lighter dance-music for the amusement of the 
boys and girls, who must make merry as the new- 
moon term comes round. 

Kumanika was on excellent terms with the neigh- 
bouring kings of Uganda and Unyoro, often exchang- 
ing presents T^^th them. He had sent to M'tesa of 
Uganda a book printed in English (" Kafl&r Laws'), 
which we saw on getting to Uganda ; and they would 
send to him for powder, cloth, &c., he being supposed 
by the chiefe living farther north to have easier access 
to the coast. In return for these favours, or for the 
gift of a porcelain cup, or neatly-made ankle or wrist 
ornaments in brass or copper, &c., he would expect to 
receive ivory, cattle, or slaves. Curious enough, none 
of these kings had ever visited each other, consequently 
their ideas of foreign countries were very limited, and 
they believed any story a designing traveller might 
choose to tell them. Rumanika, for instance, expected 
to have seen us always dressed in white cambric shirts, 
instead of which we had no soap to wash our flannel 
ones I Was it true that we made doors out of his 
ivory ? He told us the road to the north was a most 
dangerous one ; we could not march through it without 
200 guns 1 One race we should have to pass through 
were pigmies ; others lived in trees, and seized women ; 
dogs we should come across with horns, sheep with three 
horns, and men travelled about with a stool tied be- 
hind them. This last was partly true, for we foimd 
the Wagani carrying little stools on their arms ; and 



SUPERSTITIONS. 145 

" those living in trees '' may allude to M. Du ChaUlu's 
gorilla ! 

We could not trace any distinct form of religion 
amongst this interesting race, but there were certain 
indications or traces of Jewish worship. A piece of 
copper, made up in the form of a grapple or anchor, 
two feet long, lay near the door of the sultan's hut. 
We were told this was to represent the horns of cattle, 
and had a sacred signification. It was placed upright 
in the ground on the occasion of the monthly festivi- 
ties, and looked like what the Brahmins of India 
might have assumed as an idoL The cleanly huts of 
the Wahuma race reminded me of Indians ; also the 
superstition of not drinking out of the same cup with 
yoiL The moon in its different phases was thought 
to laugh at us. A tree was considered the greatest 
object in the creation, not even excepting man. Lions 
protected the mausoleum of Dagara, the former sul- 
tan ! " No kingdom was so powerful as this ; no one 
dare attack us ! Lions guard us ! '' Captain Speke 
could not kill any hippopotami in the lake, because 
he had made no present to the invisible god, or 
" deo," who lived upon it ; and the sultan of Unyoro 
could divide the waters of the lake with a rod 1 

A yoimger prince, M'nanagee, was equally tall and 
erect with his brother Rumanika, and he was even a 
greater prophet and priest. The natives had un- 
bounded faith in his powders as a diviner. Daily did 
he walk to a stone on the face of the hill, or he might 
be seen going to visit some stuffed elephant-tusks 
placed in the groimd within an enclosure, for the pur- 
pose of daily consultation with his gods. Although 
M'nanagee had these peculiarities, he was friendly 

K 



146 m'nanagee and his sons. 

and gentlemanly, always ready to give any informa- 
tion he might possess ; rather formal at first, with a 
haughty air, but ever kind in getting us pro\Tsion3, 
assisting in the knowledge of plants and herbs, and 
very modest in his requests for presents. His dress 
did not diflfer much from the people of the country; 
the usual short leather wrapper hid his loins, and a 
sheet of cotton check kept his shoulders and body 
warm. The head was shaved bare, and a strap, hold- 
ing a charm, was tied round the back of it. Bunches 
of charms hung on his arms and from his neck and 
below the knee, and huge masses of wire were on his 
ankles. He always carried a long walking-stick, with 
a charm of wood tied at one end. A small boy, very 
fat, carried his chowrie, or fly -flapper, and a huge 
black pipe, the size of half a goose s egg, with a long 
stem. On paying me visits he was seldom accom- 
panied by any one. His eldest son measured six feet 
five inches ; but, though quite as gentle as the father, 
was not so good-looking, and seldom came to visit me. 
A younger one, not more than two or three years old, 
died while I was at Karague, rather suddenly, and 
the father mourned greatly for the child, crying most 
giievously. The body was buried, the sultan said, in 
an Lsland on the lake, whereas his barber told me it 
was placed under rocks on the face of the hilL I am 
inclined to think the former statement correct, as the 
islands in the lake are considered sacred groimd; 
while the Wanyambo (the peasants of the countr}') 
deposit their dead in the waters of the lake. M'nana- 
gee had a firm belief in evil spirits. He knew them 
to be about his country, and felt certain as to the 
fact; but it was possible, he thought, for clever people 



VALLEY OF URIGI. 147 

like those at Zanzibar to confuse their designs for 
certain periods. 

A third brother, to whom we had to make presents 
on our arrival in Karague, was named Roazerah. On 
sending a gift of a red cloth and some beads, &c., he 
asked what he could give in return. " Would a tusk 
be received ? " " No.'' " Would they like a slave ? " 
"No/' said Bombay; "give them a couple of cows, 
that their men may have a feast." Though older than 
either of the other brothers, he could not succeed to 
the throne of his father, because he had been bom 
before his father became a crowned king. In like 
manner, none of the princes at present in Karague 
can succeed to their father, as all were bom while he 
was a prince. 

The chief possessions of this family are bounded on 
the north by the river Kitangule. The valley of 
Urigi divides the kingdom on the south from Usui, 
and its total extent is from 3000 to 4000 square miles 
of hills, dale, and lake, standing at a general elevation 
of 4500 feet above the level of the sea. Entering it 
firom the south, the hills, rising 200 to 300 feet above 
the valleys, are covered with waving grasses ; a few 
trees run in lines with certain strata, almost with the 
regularity of plantations ; and very often dense brush- 
wood, the refuge of the rhinoceros, crowns two-thirds 
of their tops, or runs down the ravines or water-cuts 
to the valleys below. They have a very desolate 
appearance, all the habitations being in the lower 
grounds: a traveller is seldom met with. On the 
more precipitous hiUs, rock-fragments and jutting-out 
masses of sandstone-shingle lie at a steep angle on 
their slopes; and the path, of splinters from these. 



U X XF^mT T, XTTTXT^'nT^'^.^^n'ni » 



148 "LITTLE WINDERMERE, 

goes up and down, or makes long circuits to get round 
the spurs, seldom displaying any pleasing scene except 
the freshness of the young grasses after having been 
burnt These reminded me of the "Emerald Isle," 
and when the view on reaching the residence of Ku- 
manika, the reigning king, burst upon us, all hard- 
ships and trials were forgotten and forgiven. As you 
stand on the greensward, you see, 1000 feet below 
you, and two miles distant, the sweetly-lying lake of 
Karague, " Little Windermere," reposing in oval form 
amidst gently-swelling grassy hills, so surrounded as 
to puzzle one to think where the waters come from, 
and where they make their escape. On its western 
shore, trees hang over its clear sweet waters ; wooded 
islands dot its glassy surface, and a deep fringe of the 
papyrus borders its southern side. But the most in- 
teresting sight to us was looking away to the far west 
over four distinct parallel ranges of hill, with water 
(Lakes Kagsera, Ooyewgomah, &c.) showing here and 
there between them ; and occasionally about sunset, 
after the foggy mists had cleared away, appeared a 
sugar-loaf mountain, known to the natives as " M'foom- 
bsero," or Cook. It is the largest hiU in the country, 
and caused, on first view, quite a sensation, attract- 
ing our intense admiration by its towering height. 
Two brother cones, but lower, lie to its left, and all 
are so steep, that the natives said few attempt their 
ascent, having to do it on hands and knees. Their 
distance from where we stood was calculated at fifty 
miles. Unfortunately they could not be reached, as 
they were off" our direct route, and in a different 
kingdom, and many obstacles intervened ; so that our 



RAINY SEASON IN KARAGUE. 149 

only privilege was to look at them when not veiled in 
mists, at sunset. 

The capital of Karague is l"" 40' south of the 
equator, within a complete belt of vapour the whole 
year round. Fruitful showers seemed to fall con- 
tinually. There are no very marked seasons, as win- 
ter and summer. On the same day, sowing, gather- 
ing, and reaping may be seen, and from November 
tiU April the fall of rain increases or diminishes ac- 
cording as the Sim becomes more or less vertical to our 
position. The natives had their reasons for knowing 
this also; for when asked, on the 2d December 1861 
(when we were having abundant showers), " How long 
is this to last ? — ^when does your rainy season com- 
mence ? '' — ^they at once said, " With the new moon/' 
which corresponded with the time for the sun to re- 
turn towards its more vertical position. Again, when 
asking them, " When have you your heaviest rains ? '* 
the reply was, " At the time the Mohammedans call 
Ramezan," which is equivalent to our equinoctial 
period in March, when the sun crosses our zenitL A 
note about this time is as follows : — " 1 7th March 
1862. The weather looks black, peals of thunder with 
lightning; 1.65 inches of rain fell straight and thick, 
with occasional hail, in one hour.'' The fall increased 
in quantity from this day till it reached its climax 
about the 10th of April, when it began again to 
decline. In December till January 7, the usual 
maximum temperature in a grass hut open to the 
south was observed to be 81^ and the minimum 
56**, at an elevation of 5000 feet above the level of 
the sea. We had a great number of dull English 



150 CAPTAIN SPEKE DEPARTS FOE UGANDA. 

days, very few bright ones, never an Italian sky, as 
too many vapours hung about this equatorial region. 
The dews were heavy, and lay long, and the mould 
getting amongst plants was very disheartening to the 
collector, obliging him to discard many a souvenir. 
Brushwood was used instead of firewood, which was 
scarce and dear, otherwise the chUly mornings and 
nights might have been cheered by the watchfire. 
The country was luckily so hilly, that, though the rain 
dashed with the N.E. wind into the red clayey soil, 
making the hill-sides stream with muddy rivulets, one 
hour after the " pelt " all had run down, and a gleam 
of sunshine made the ground not unpleasant to walk 
upon. The health of the men did not seem to suffer 
from wet Zanzibar people are accustomed to getting 
ducked. It keeps them occupied in repairing their 
grass huts, collecting firewood, and making merry over 
it, rather than causing despondency. With one case 
of ophthalmia, and a few of fever, there were no other 
cases of sickness amongst the half-dozen men left by 
Speke on the 10th January, when he departed for 
Uganda, leaving me behind sick. At first sight this 
appeared to some persons at home as an unkind pro- 
ceeding, leaving a helpless " brother " in the heart of 
Africa; but my companion was not the man to be 
daunted; he was offered an escort to the north, and 
all tender feelings must yield to the stem necessities 
of the case. " Strike while the iron is hot," applies to 
Africa more appropriately than to any country I know; 
another such opportimity might never occur, and had 
the traveller's determination of character been soften- 
ed, and had he not proceeded without me at that 
time, we might never again — so little upsets the 



THE Al'THOUS ll.l.NKSS. I ,M 

mind of an African chief — have had the i\«ul oihmuhI 
to us. 

The following account of my own aihnoiits I givo, 
not with a wish to parade them, but in onlvr to con- 
vey information: — Having had fevew twice a-moiith, 
in December my usual complaint assunnnl a ih»w 
fonn. The right leg, from above tlie kiuus Imthiih^ 
deformed with inflammation, and reinaincid for a 
month in this unaccountable state, giviiiji( inl.ciiH(^ 
pain, which was relieved temporarily l)y a deep inci- 
sion and copious discharge. For three montJiH fn^nli 
abscesses formed, and other incisions wont nuuli*.; luy 
strength was prostrated; the kne(5 stiff and alitnii- 
ingly bent, and walking was impra^;ticabh^ Many 
cures were attempted by the natives, wlio all Hyni- 
pathised with me in my sufferings, which thc.y saw 
were scarcely endurable; but I liarl great faith- wim 
all along cheerful and liappy, except at the rnniH of 
this helpless state, when I felt that it would ijave U'mh 
preferable to be nearer home. Tlie diHt:iiHti ran itn 
course, and daily, to bring out the Hf/turnuhiUul dii^ 
charge, I stripped my leg likf; a h^^^^rL li^miUiy ha/J 
heard of a poultice made of ^>>w-dung, salt, and inu/J 
from the lake; thiB wais yh^-jA on hot, but it twr^rly 
produced the effort of a tight Ixin/lage, V^mksi wa>. 
certain that a aerifffuX lia/l «p«at uj^^u tsty 1*-^ - ** it 
©ould not hare l^^en a bit^:,'* IJt SVs^t^^jr'^i^ th': »ruJ 
tan's brother, kit*:'"' tL^ 'iivja*^ jAr-rf'^^rt Jy ;. ii.<: ^yy'jid 
send me a cur*: for i: — ^zA a ruiid u^:u\\f', i^-joj^yiu*^ '4 
the WaiiTsanbo rv:>r ^:zsiih ^'':xh i;>. »','£«:. a \'*y^u'j w ^ 



152 RECOVERY FROM ILLNESS. 

the hut, when his wife produced a scroll of plantain- 
leaf, in which was a black paste. This was moistened 
from the mouth and rubbed into the bleeding cuts, 
making them smart; afterwards a small piece of lava 
was dangled against my leg and tied as a charm 
round tlie ankle. Two days afterwards he found no 
improvement, and, having repeated some mystic words 
behind me, another charm of wood and goat's flesh 
was tied above the knee and round the ankle, much 
in the same way as a kind lady-friend in Scotland 
once sent me a string of soda-water corks to be worn 
at night as a cure for cramp 1 Paste, very like gun- 
powder, was rubl^ed into fresh cuts, and this was re- 
peated without any result, although the charms had 
been on for two days. M'nanagee, seeing his medi- 
cal adviser had failed, sent an herb to soak in water 
and rub over the part; it had a very soothing effect, 
but did not allay the pain. He had seen me apply 
the leaves of the castor-oil plant as a hot bandage, 
and forbade their use a second time as being injurious, 
having given me a delirious fever, and causing a 
counter-action of profuse discharge of water from the 
limb. By the fifth month the complaint had ex- 
hausted itself ; at last I was able to be out of the hut 
inhaling the sweet air, and once more permitted to 
behold the works of God's creation in the beautiful 
lake and liilLs below me. Never did I experience a 
happier moment ! During this illness, the family at 
the palace were very kind in coming to sit by me; 
the young sons brought me plants in flower, birds' 
nests, eggs, or other things which they thought might 
interest me ; while I sketched for them or their father, 
and sent a servant to get the news, and ask for the 



VISITS OF THE NATIVES. 153 

king every morning. Since Speke had left, there waa 
considerable difficulty in getting supplies, and the 
sultan was not so kind in this respect as he might 
have been; but, African like, he had received his 
presents, and imtil more were given him he withheld 
sending goat, fowls, or other necessaries, which my 
men had to hunt the country for. One poor fellow 
lost his life in doing so. Two were together; the 
natives set upon them while bringing home loads of 
grain; they shot one with arrows, the other ran for 
his life, and slept all night up a tree, afraid to go near 
a village. On asking him, " Did you sleep V^ "0 
yes, I tied myself with rope to the boughs, and slept 
several hours." The sultan sought for redress from 
the village, but all the people had decamped in fear. 
Several other natives paid me almost daily caUs — offi- 
cers. barbers, ivory-traders, musicians, &c., in whom a 
good deal of character could be observed. At night 
my few men would gather round their fire, and, par- 
ticularly after having an extra allowance of plantain- 
wine, sing a ditty about my health. Frij on the 
single-stringed zeze or guitar would commence — "I 
am Frij, I am Frij ; my brother Grin (meaning Grant), 
my brother Grin, is very sick, is very sick; well get a 
cow, well get a cow, when he gets well, when he gets 
weU," to which the others would all subscribe in a 
louder voice, " Ameen," with the most perfect solemnity. 
My couch or bed, the height of a table, was formed 
of the trunks of plantain-trees covered with grass and 
blankets. This was roofed over with a low grass hut, 
having its gable end wide open to the south, where no 
wind blew from at that season. Much to the surprise of 
the natives, there was no fence round our encampment. 



154 NATIVE CURES AND MEDICINES. 

By day, dogs walked into our huts, and by night hyena 
often carried away our fowls. Indeed, while lying 
awake, one came sniffing with his nose in the air up 
to my couch, and ran sulkily away on my shouting at 
him. One cannot say whether he would have sprung 
upon me had I been asleep, but the precaution of a 
trap was taken for several nights following. 

The most curious disease known in this country was 
a case of dropsy brought to be operated upon. Some 
days after having seen it, and declined the operation, 
a number of watery globules, the size of common 
marbles, were brought me upon a leaf, said to have 
been extracted from the person afflicted. This opera- 
tion they performed generally without fatal conse- 
quences, and the disease was not uncommon. There 
were several leprous people, favourites about the court 
One, an old woman, who saluted us with " Vihoreh," 
had flesh-coloured hands and colourless patches on her 
arms. M'nanagee complained of not being able to 
drink his usual fare of milk ; and though his know- 
ledge of herbs was very extensive, he could not cure 
himself. One of his favourite medicines was a prepa- 
ration from the long roots of nettles found growing in 
the shallow end of the lake. These, I was informed, 
were used in decoction as purgatives. On my request- 
ing him to give me his tapeworm medicine, it was ob- 
tained with considerable difficulty. The servant was 
told to go to a certain bush on the hillside, never to look 
back on his way thither, but to return without pluck- 
ing the plant if he should meet a dogl Through 
the kindness of M'nanagee, his nephews, and others, 
a species of frankincense and many interesting plants 
were examined and preserved. 



KARAGUE. loo 

The country of Kaxague rarely affords space flat 
enough for a single tent to be pitched, but there are 
thousands of acres now in grass which are perfectly 
capable of profitable cultivation. Captain Maury, of 
the United States navy, at the British Association 
meeting in 1863, stated his opinion that this region, 
from its equatorial position and moist atmosphere, 
would make an excellent coffee-growing country ; and 
as many parts resemble portions of the Himalayas, 
where tea is grown, and there are no frosts at Karague, 
I think it is admirably adapted for the culture of 
tea as well as coffee. Wild grapes were occasionally 
gathered in the lower grounds, but no beds of gravel 
similar to those at home or on the Continent, where 
the vine flourishes in such luxuriance, are to be seen. 
A few clumps of wild date-trees grow in the valleys, but 
the natives axe ignorant of the sexes of the trees, and 
never have any fruit. Sugar-cane is seldom or never 
grown. There are two heavy crops in the year— sor- 
ghum and plantain ; while pease (English garden), a 
species of bean or calavance, caQed "maharageh," Indian 
com, Ac, are grown at other seasons. All these we saw 
ripe or ripening, and fresh shoots of plantain were being 
set, while other fields were prepared for the heavier crop 
of red sorghum, sown in March. Then squads of men 
and women assemble, probably only one-fifth working 
at a time, the rest si^ding, loun^ng, and laughing^ 
The men, with a hook having a three-feet-long handle, 
slash down the weeds, women hoe them up, coUect the 
stones, clear the ground, and give it the tidy appear- 
ance of a garden. In February great care is bestowed 
upon the plantain, which affords one of the staples of 
life in this country throughout the year. Acres of 



156 PRICE OF PROVISIONS. 

it cover the hillsides, a rivulet sometimes dividing the 
field; the trunks are trimmed of the leaves which 
have been torn into shreds by the wind ; firesh shoots 
are planted ; and the whole orchard is industriously 
superintended. 

The natives asked us ludicrous prices for their pro- 
ducts. Our beads, the manufacture of Venice, were 
of little value, firom fourteen to twenty-five (size of 
pigeon-eggs) being given for a single goat, and a propor- 
tionate number for a cow. This our Seedees thought 
a great contrast to their native country of Uhiao, 
where a bucketful of flour, with a fowl on the top, 
could be obtained for one necklace of ordinary beads. 
But here the women were double the size round the 
waist that they were an3rwhere eke, and they must 
have beads enough to begird them once before a goat 
can he parted with. They would refuse us milk and 
butter, because it was not their custom to sell them, 
and because we eat fowls, and the bean called maha- 
rageh ; but on making them a present of several coils 
of brass wire (thirteen), we could procure a quart- 
sized wooden jar of butter. In November, grain is 
scarce. The natives brought salt to exchange for it ; and 
on being offered meat instead, they have been known 
to refuse it, because the allowance was not so large and 
satisfactory to them as grain. When marching, the 
head-men of the villages had orders from their sultan 
to supply our camp with suflicient provision for the 
day. A quantity of sweet potatoes, some pumpkins, 
fowls, and a goat, were generally given, and a present 
of cloth and brass wire was made them in return. 
Plantain-wine was seldom presented : it seemed to 
have conveniently run dry on our arrival I English 



TOBACCO AND PLANTAIN- WINE. 157 

garden-pease were first seen in this part of Africa by 
Speke, and with the aid of the sultan we were able to 
lay in a supply of this delicacy, not in their green form, 
but dry and dead ripe, boiling and making them into 
a mash. They were grown broadcast in considerable 
quantities about Mcegongo. Tobacco, ripe in April, 
we could always procure, but it was extravagant 
in price — six pipefuls of the finest description cost- 
ing the daily ration allowance of one porter. The 
sultan smoked a very full-flavoured description in his 
large pipe. We tried to discover from an old man, 
his one-eyed tobacconist, the secret of its preparation ; 
but he would not divulge it unless a handsome reward 
was given. It had a rich mellow aroma, more plea- 
sant than any tobacco we had ever smoked; and 
whether it was from rubbing the leaf in his perfumed 
hands, using a secretion from the cow, or that honey 
was mixed in it, we never could discover. He would 
not allow that any ingredient was used — ^the tobacco 
when green was merely rubbed in his hands. In 
December beautiful granulated honey was offered for 
sale. Though there were few bees to be seen in this 
country, their produce was always procurable in small 
quantities, and it was of excellent though sometimes 
of highly flowery flavour. 

Plantain-wine, called here "marwa," was made 
by every family that had an orchard of the trees. It 
is a sweet raisiny-tasting wine ; if aerated, nearly equal 
to sparkling hock in richness of flavour. A quart 
could be taken with comfort, but after the third day 
it becomes dead, sour, and intoxicating ; our men got 
so riotous from it that the sultan was requested 
not to send us the daily allowance of one goiurdfuL 



158 TRADE OF KARAGUE. 

Ridiculous scenes of drunkenness would sometimes 
occur. One Seedee with a gun would in his intoxi- 
cation chase another through the fields ; others with 
guns would fly to prevent bloodshed. At last the 
original offender would have so many guns pointed at 
him that he would surrender, and then his gun would 
be found not loaded ! 

The process of making plantain-wine in Karague 
takes generally from two to three dajrs. A huge log 
scooped out, and looking like a canoe, is essential for 
a large quantity. It is tilted at one end, and dammed 
up with grass in the centre. Ripe fruit has dean 
grass put amongst it. A woman mashes aU at the 
upper end with her hands or feet. The liquor strains 
through the dam, and is again strained with grass till 
clean. All the liquid is then placed for fermentation 
in the " canoe " freslily cleaned. Some burnt, bruised 
sorghum is placed in it ; all is covered up fix)m the 
air, and allowed to remain in the sun or near a fire 
for two or three days, when it is skimmed and fit for 
use. Wine is never exported or bottled, and probably 
not a drop of the brewing can be obtained after the 
lapse of only four days. All, even the youngest chil- 
dren amongst the peasants, drink it, carrying gourd- 
fuls of it about with them wherever they go, as regu- 
larly as we carry our purses. 

Of the natural products of the equatorial regions, 
such as slaves, ivory, salt, copper, iron, bark -cloths, 
coffee, and sugar-cane, Karague scarcely yields any, 
but it is a great depot for trade. Arabs and coastmen 
bring up beads, cloths, and brass wire, and meet people 
of all the nations around, and trade with them for 
ivory and slaves. Copper and salt are brought fix)m 



TRADE AND PRICES. 159 

beyond Paroro to exchange for brass wire. Nicole is 
justly celebrated for its tobacco, though every hut 
here has its garden of it. Ruanda sends her painted 
matting, goat, salt, and iron wire, and requests the 
sultan, who drives a stiff bargain, to fix the price of 
each article — as, 160 ankle- wires = a single necklace; 
a goat = twenty necklaces. The Wanyamuezi carry 
salt from their country to exchange it for the ivory 
brought by the people of Unyoro, NTcole, and UtumbL 
Bark-cloths are not made well in Karague : the people 
of Uganda, Eattara, and Uhia excel in them. They 
are sewn in four stripes, each a foot to 1 8 inches broad, 
and, when well greased by the Wanyambo, make a most 
comfortable, becoming square shawl to keep out the 
cold and rain. During the 1861 war in Unyanyembe 
(at 5** S.) a slave might be purchased for something 
under one shilling sterling, or, if estimated in beads, 
ten necklaces. If a number of them were brought up 
(as they have been in several instances) to the equator 
and beyond it, they would each fetch a frasila, or 36 
lb weight of ivory, equal to £12 in Zanzibar. This 
is one of the inducements for Arabs and Africans to 
speculate, but the instance is exceptionaL 

Trade encounters great difficulties in such a country, 
where there are no regular laws, no roads, no carriage 
conveyance, and the caravan is liable to losses from 
heavy taxes, desertions, and attacks. For instance, 
two traders, named Sungoro and Joomah, left Karague 
while I was there for the south with a considerable 
supply of ivory. On reaching the borders of the first 
province (Usui), they sent forward to ask the sultan's 
permission to pass through his country. A demur was 
made that the party was too strong, but they would 




160 THE COUNTRY OF UHIA. 

be pennittcd. When once in the chiefs power, he 
demanded half their ivory as a tax. Provisions were 
very dear; they resisted, they complained, all to no 
purpose ; and they were told to cultivate the soil if they 
chose, but that they would not be allowed to depart 
till the demand was paid. Rumanika interfered and 
got them out of the trouble, othenvise they would 
have Ixicn detained there for many months. In Ugogo 
and Unyamuezi the chief claims a tusk of every ele- 
phant foimd dead or killed ; he gets the tusk from the 
cheek that lies nearest the ground. There is no such 
law in Karague. Amongst the curiosities in tusks, 
we heard of one so large that it could not be carried 
to the coast, and that one elephant had been seen with 
four tusks ! Both stories, like those about fences be- 
ing made of them in some countries, are, of course, 
among the fables of the natives. 

Between Karague and the Victoria Nyanza there is 
a countr}' called Uhia or Mohia, whose people are 
traders to the north. They also bring coffee to Kar- 
ague for sale in bundles covered with plantain-leaf, 
containing two handfuLs, w^hich they sell very dearly 
at one necklace of beads. It takes a handful to make 
a pint of very inferior coffee, as the bean, when the 
loose husk is taken off, is not larger than half a grain 
of rice. In this state the natives chew it as a sailor 
does tobacco. It is pleasant, inducing saliva, and 
leaving a comfortable flavour in the mouth. When 
our store of tea and coffee was consumed, we found 
this, when roasted and infused for drinking, a substi- 
tute, but very inferior, because the bean had not been 
allowed to come to perfection w^hen it was pulled. 
The natives do not make use of it as we do, but refresh 



THE XATrV'ES OF UHIA AND RUANDA. IGl 

themselves on a journey by throwing two or three 
beans, husks and all, into their mouths. Several of 
these Wahia traders were seen — sturdy, very black, 
middle-sized men, with bare, unshaven heads and 
beards. Their dress was a cow -skin, having the leg 
parts neatly rounded off, of a saffron yellow, and 
friezed inside, knotted over the right shoulder, and 
hanging to the middle of the thigh. This dress is 
sometimes worn with the hair outside : above it they 
generally wore a brick - coloured bark - cloth, well 
greased. Their ornaments were a sheep or goat s horn, 
tied jauntily with a strip of leather round their bare 
heads, and a few solid rings, crow-quill thickness, 
worn round the ankles. Their arms were differently 
shaped, as was their dress, from those of any race we 
had met with. The spear-shaft was six feet long, and 
the spear was heart-shaped, or like the ace of spades. 
Jumah, a coast-trader, called them a bad, unsafe set of 
people, probably because they were rivals in his busi- 
ness. He also abused the Ruanda people, because 
they refused to allow any coast-men into their king- 
dom, which, he said, was even more populous than 
Uganda, The specimens seen by us were merely men 
from its borders, who had come with produce by water 
in three days from the west. They were tall, lean 
men, with the shortest loin-cover of skin I ever saw ; of 
the same pattern as, but even smaller than, those worn 
by the natives of UsuL The above native gentleman, 
Jimiah, had travelled a great deal, had sailed on Vic- 
toria Nyanza, had attempted the ascent of Kilimanjaro, 
had made great friends with the king of Uganda, and 
said he could converse in at least ten different Afri- 
can languages. I begged to differ with him as to their 

L 



162 JUMAH's stories about KnJMANJAEO. 

being distinct languages; but he insisted that each was 
as different from the other as Baniani is to Hindoo. 
He was of East Indian origin, though he could not 
speak its language, and had acquired all the super- 
stitious notions of the Seedea However, during my 
illness he paid me constant visits, afforded me a great 
deal of amusement, and was a kind, hospitable man. 
He told strange tales about the snow-capped mountain 
Kilimanjaro, which has since been ascended by my 
friend the Baron von der Decken, gold-medallist (with 
myself) of the Royal Geographical Society for 1864. 
When encamped at Chaga, Jumah could see it change 
colour "five times during the day. First it was 
white in the early morning, then changed into black, 
green, brown, and, lastly, scarlet, like a red blan- 
ket He thought the colours were not reflections 
from snow — the sun was too hot for any to lie 
there — they were stones 1 and he picked up several 
carnelian-coloured pebbles at its base. He and all 
Arabs firmly believe that the mountain can never 
be ascended by either black or white man. Though 
gold is there in abundance, no one dare dig for it — a 
demon has possession 1 Even Speke could not go up 
it, unless the devil should take fright at the face of a 
white man ! He mustered courage one day, and de- 
termined to try the ascent, but he was struck with a 
huge swelling in both limbs, which disappeared as 
suddenly as it cama Was not this a caution ? and 
did it not show that it was possessed ? '' Jumah was 
full of these tales, and of his brave fights with super- 
natural characters. Of Uganda he gave me a great 
deal of accurate information, describing the numbers 
of people who are daily killed there by order of the 



TEADE IN IVORY. 163 

king ; and lie thought if M'tessa were asked not to rule 
so cruelly, that a greater sacrifice would be the only 
consequence. " It was not firom any love he had for 
destruction of life, as he was an amiable young man, 
but from its being the ancient custom of the country ; 
and were it not done, the fear was that the people 
would become rebellious. Besides which, was not the 
country swarming with people ? did it not abound 
with food ? did they not love the king's rule, and 
prefer his sentence of death to a natural one, as 
being more princely ? " Jumah had made M'tessa a 
considerable present, which will illustrate the manner 
of trading in this part of the world. A gold-embroi- 
dered silk scarf or deolee, value ^50, a " mucknuflF,'' a 
gold-embroidered vest, two men's loads of blue beads, 
half a load of brass wire, a small tiara, value $1, and 
two flint-muskets without powder, constituted his gift. 
The king, in return, gave him 700 lb. weight of ivory 
(some of the tusks weighing 90 lb.), seven women, and 
fifty cows; besides which Jumah asked for his two 
guns to be returned. In receiving these he considered 
himself well repaid, as one-third belonged to himself, 
the rest to his master in Zanzibar. He had been 
trafficking for three years in this way without ever 
visiting the coast, and meant to remain another year, 
when he would have completed collecting 500 fi'asila, 
equal to 17,500 lb. of ivory. This mode of fair deal- 
ing is very different to what takes place at the Nile 
trading-marts to the north of the equator. There guns 
and bullets, in the hands of Nubians employed by 
European, Turkish, and Armenian masters, assist in 
capturing the herds of cattle used in paying porters 
and purchasing ivory. If a tax is asked, all that is 



164 FIRST TIDINGS OF THE NILE. 

given, as one of them told us, is the muzzle of a gun. 
It seems marvellous, therefore, that the Zanzibar 
traders who pay as Jumah did, or buy tusks at the 
market price of weight for weight in Venetian beads, 
can bring their ivories into the same market as the 
Nile men, who actually pay nothing for the tusk. But 
this is the explanation : although they have been pur- 
chased by plundered cattle, the master of those plun- 
derers has to pro^dde guns and ammunition ; he has 
to pay the men, and also the freight of the ivory, and 
its duty to the Eg}'ptian Government. These are the 
expenses wliich bring the price of Nile ivory up to 
that which is taken to Zanzibar. But on either the 
one or the other side of the equator no lionest man 
w^ould have a chance against the present field of 
traders, who do everything in their power to keep the 
country as a preserve for cattle, slaves, and ivory. 

As our narrative has here touched on the Nile, I 
may as well mention what information we received 
regarding it firom the many travellers coming to Kar- 
ague for the purposes of trade. On the 2d of January 
1862, while Speke and I were together, we were 
throwTi into a state of excitement by being told that a 
man had arrived firom a country far away to the north, 
bringing tidings that "a party having guns which 
knocked down trees had been attacked by the Wagani 
race, one hundred of them killed, the most of their 
property seized and made over to one Kamarasi, a 
king." The extraordinary part of the story was, that 
the strangers had not left the country, but still occu- 
pied their ships, wliich were reported to be large 
enough to contain cattle. Our firm impression was, 
that this could be no other than Petherick, who had 



FIRST TIDINGS OF THE NILE. 165 

promised, when we parted with him in England, to 
meet or have boats for us in November 1861 and un- 
til 1862. , Plans were at once formed to send him a 
letter, and Rumanika gave us every facility, as the 
king above mentioned was his connection, having 
exchanged sisters with him. Although this intimacy 
existed, nothing would induce Rumanika to allow us 
to march there till a reply had been received. We 
were to be kept for months in suspense, until Baraka, 
the bearer of the despatch, should return. Although 
we told Rumanika repeatedly that we expected boats 
on the NUe for us, on the receipt of this important in- 
formation he would not allow us to advance — it would 
not be etiquette toward the northern kings ! Mean- 
while the king of Uganda luckily sent a message that 
he was most impatient to see the white men, and as a 
story was got up that no sick people nor donkeys were 
allowed to enter his territory, I had to remain till 
Bujfficiently recovered to march. Speke left on the 
1 0th of January ; and Baraka, having bought the dis- 
guise of a native — a bark-cloth and spear — consulted 
magicians to find out whether this march would be 
prosperous ; he started on the 29th with several com- 
panions, and letters for the ships supposed to be 
Petherick's. These turned out to be a perfect myth — 
no such boats were there ; the nearest point that any 
lay at was Gondokoro, a place known in Europe for 
thirty years. But the Nubian soldiers of M. de Bono 
had worked their way firom Gondokoro by land far 
south by means of their guns, and gave origin to the 
report we had heard. Feeling anxious about Baraka, 
my head man Frij went repeatedly to the sultiin's 
brother, M^nanagee, asking whether anything had been 



166 FROM KARAGUE TO LONDON BY WATER. 

heard of him. No intelligence had actually been re- 
ceived, but M'nanagee had consulted his magic homs, 
and they told him that " Baraka was perfectly well, 
but his companion Seedee was suffering from a chest 
complaint ! " M nanagee was so confident about this 
telegraphing on his own part, that he said, " If it does 
not turn out true, 111 give you that goat." Months 
afterwards, on our reaching Kamarasi's, we were told 
that the man had been ailing slightly ! 

Of Speke I could hear occasionally by letter ; his 
men were discontented at getting nothing to eat but 
boiled plantain ; but they ultimately found out that 
there was nothing else to be procured in the country. 
He had crossed a body of water four hundred yards 
wide, running to the north. What a pleasure it must 
have been to him to come upon the first flowing 
waters of the Nile ! In a previous letter, dated 12th 
February, from the borders of Nyanza, he wrote say- 
ing he was to return for me in a boat along the lake. 
On mentioning to Rumanika that an Uganda boat was 
to arrive in his lake to convey the baggage and my- 
self away, he replied, " It was all practicable except 
for two miles, at the Kitangule, where the river is 
shallow, and the boat must be carried." I added, that 
as the waters we then looked upon mingled with 
those in my country (alluding to the Mediterranean), 
the day might come when a traveller could go from 
Karague to London and vice versa by water ! Since 
saying this, we have discovered that cataracts are the 
only obstacle to this grand tourist route. 

The cattle of this coimtry resemble those we saw at 
Cape Town — aU horn, with staring ribs. The sultan 
kept 400 of such animals at his residence on the high 



THE CATTLE OF KARAGUE. 107 

grounds. He had perhaps 10,000 more on the graz- 
ing-grounds on the banks of the Kitangule, where 
they had better feeding, and looked more sleek. 
Some horns were two and three feet long, and eighteen 
inches round the base. No use seemed to be made of 
them, unless by Seedees and Arabs, who converted 
them into powder-horns. At nine every morning 
these 400 cows were trotted down the hill to their 
grazing-ground, sometimes accompanied by one of the 
princes, and they were walked back to be milked 
after dark, having been allowed to drink once at a 
trough of clay filled by an osier bucket from a well on 
the edge of the lake. Every tenth day the lanky 
creatures were driven down (at 7 a.m.) two hours 
earlier than usual, as they had to go farther, for the 
purpose of receiving a drench of brackish water some 
distance away. On the hillside by the path shallow 
pits are dug in horizontal lines, to allow water to 
collect there for cattle or wild animals. They are 
wretched milkers, only giving half the quantity of the 
plump small-homed breed of Unyanyembe. Two 
were set apart by the sultan for our use, as no one 
would drink firom the same cow that supplied us; 
and whether it was that the animals were less cared 
for, or that they soon became dry, our supply of milk 
latterly became reduced to almost nothing. No doubt 
this was attributed to our bewitching the cows by 
boiling the milk I Daily, men carrying five or six 
prettily-shaped "chanzees^ or jars of yellow wood, 
browned firom use, slung from a stick on their 
shoulders, would pass my hut vnth milk for the 
palace. It was the staff of life — the children and 
women fattened upon it ; and the butter, sometimes 



168 PET DOGS OF KARAGUE. 

of a good quality, but never rich, was used merely as 
a pomade on their bodies, to soften their skin-cover- 
ings, and as an external cure for everything. We had 
considerable difficulty in procuring any, because we 
ate it. However, a handsome present now and then 
would induce them to give us some. The sheep 
(lambed in the month of November) were a small 
species, without wool, generally white, and only half-a- 
dozen would be seen in a tra^t of ten or twenty miles. 
Within 200 yards of them we have observed the 
white rhinoceros grazing, looking like a solitary stack 
in the middle of a hay-field. We did not take the 
trouble to shoot him, because his flesh is worthless, 
and shooting interfered with the march. Sometimes 
our men fired, which made both them and the animal 
run in opposite directions. Every hut had its little flock 
of short-haired goats, whose skins were so valued as an 
article of dress that the natives could seldom be induced 
to sell them. One roan-coloured goat presented to us 
was fancied for its colour by the sultan, and exchanged, 
as he longed for it to assist in some ceremony. 

There were pet dogs about the palace, used in going 
after small antelope and tiger-cats. The breed was 
like the pariah of India, leggy, with smooth red hair, 
but much more domestic, giving a paw, lying down 
quietly by your side, or always ready to walk with 
you, having been taught docility by the young 
princes. They are said to run after game by scent, 
but this we did not observe. This particular breed 
is always gelt, the natives believing that they are 
thereby rendered more keen in the piu^uit of sport. 
One, a great favourite, answering to the name of 
^'Keeromba*' — a wild, beautifully-sounding, musical 



CAPTURE OF A XZOWE ^^JN^TELOPE. 1G9 

name — ^became much attached to om- camp. To give 
an idea of the sport here, Speke bagged three white 
rhinoceros in one day, much to the delight of the 
native princes, who never will forget the enjoyment it 
gave them. They would not eat the flesh ; but some 
Wezee porters — ^poor starved-like men, belonging to 
the Arab traders at Kufro — carried it away in enor- 
mous loads; but when seen by their Mohammedan 
masters, the meat was sent out of camp as being 
imlawful, not having been regularly killed. On our 
mentioning to the king that we had heard of an 
extraordinary animal like a goat living in the lake, 
he ordered his people to capture one. Canoes of logs, 
two paddles each, and 1 8 feet long, were collected to 
beat the papjmis rushes, driving the animal into the 
water, when he was chased (as we were told) and 
captured alive, care being taken by outside canoes 
that no crocodiles attacked the men while in the 
water. A procession of singers walked up the hill, 
passing our huts, carrying the live animal neatly 
lashed upon a frame of wood to the sultan, who sent 
him to us " fresh from the lake.'' He (a young male 
antelope) was very timid, and lay down with a rope 
about his neck for a whole day ; but on a dish of 
water being presented to him, he dashed his head into 
it as if he felt himself once more in his native element. 
As he seemed to pine, refusing his natural food — ^the 
tops of the papyrus — ^he was killed. His coat was of 
long, dirty brown, rather soft hair. His horns, from 
five to six inches long, were commencing to spire; 
the hoofs were of the true waterboc, immensely long, 
and widely separated; height more than three feet. 
This species of antelope is called "nzowe" by the 



170 THE SPORT OF KARAGUE. 

natives, and lives altogether on the borders of 
lakes. 

We never heard of elephants while residing here. 
There are no forests for them on these heights and 
valleys. Hartebeest, and rhinoceros or "faroo," are 
the common animals of the chase. The former, called 
" nyamoera," in the rutting season become highly com- 
bative. Two stags fought in the plain with unflinching 
determination, calmly halting to breathe l^etween each 
roimd. The force of every butt as their heads met, 
and as they fell on their knees, soimded distinctly, 
the energy and impetus of the attack sending their 
small bushy tails over their backs. After a battle of 
twenty minutes, one became the victor, and chased 
the other into and out of a herd of hinds, when I was 
obliged to leave the interesting chase. Several ante- 
lope were wounded this day, but they were very wild 
in the open plain of grass, and it required accurate 
shooting at 300 and 400 yards to bag one. Of other 
game animals there were several varieties of antelope. 
The mountain gazelle bounded very prettily over the 
bare hills, and did not seem very wild. Pigs were in 
the low grounds, and hippopotami swam in the lake. 
But Karague is not a country of sport ; and although 
the sultan imagines that lions garrison the coimtiy, 
and moimt guard over his father s remains, we never 
saw one, dead or alive. The natives told us that 
otter, called "gonejeh," of the ordinary colour, live in 
the lake, and that their king (concerning whom they 
have some superstition) is as white as an old man's 
beard. The manner in which a Wezee prepares a 
skin for wear is very simple, and seems perfectly effi- 
cacious. Straw is laid on the ground, the skin is 



NESTING SKASON. iTl 

pegged out ne^itly over it till tlion>ughly dvioxl by the 
sun into the state of parchment ; it is then doubled 
and pressed in every possible diiV(»tion, and a few 
integuments are pulled off. It is hand-rublKHl, and 
smeared with grease, and then iK^oonios fit. for \v<Nir. 
Great numbers of moles, larger tluui English, wvxv 
caught in oiu: camp. Their fur was black or bn)wn, 
and some were white. The natives seemed to mak<^ 
no use of them. 

Of game-birds the most numerous are tlu^ giiinc»a- 
fowl, the " boee " and " qualee " i)artTidgrH. Tim 
natives shoot at long distances with th(;ir uitowh, and 
must destroy great quantities of game. They also use 
springes, for during the march a small hyy was met car- 
rying on a string some birds he hiid caught We said 
to him, "Come to camp — ^you'll be paid for them ;" but 
he naively replied, " Catch me going to yr^ur camp 1 
you'd put chains upon me, and make mc; a slave." 
On the 1 0th of April a nest of guinea-fowl, ** kanga," 
eggs were brought me ; thig was in the middle of the 
rainy season ; but they most probably breefl all thf; 
year round. Small red sj>arrows were al.v> picking 
up feathers ; and a nest made of one sj^^df^s of grass, 
with two unspotted white little eggs, was brought in, 
showing that incubation goes on at this sf^asrin. fM 
the lake there were varieties of duck, which came in 
flights everv nijrht about the berinninf/ of iJfjcemW 
firom the east, flying over our camp with the s(>und of 
a passing shell An Egyptian goose, to us particularly 
interesting from its name and connection with the 
yUtz, was shot by Speke, and sent U) the sultan, who 
wm more delighted with its splendid plumajre Hian 
wicfa. the English table-knife, fork, and Kf»fK»n he fi»f| 



172 THE CROW USED IN DIVINING EVENTS. 

that day been presented with. He, no doubt, had 
never seen the bird before, although it was shot by 
his own lake. We, of course, obsen^d the rhinoceros- 
bird, which sits as calmly on the animaFs back as a 
man does on the top of a coach ; he is the size of a 
" mina " or a blackbird, and has black wings, with a 
grey or white rump ; they are partly gregarious, three 
being seen together ; and they must feed upon the 
tics which infest the skin of the rhinoceros. Here we 
came across a new swallow skimming the grasses of 
the hillsides — black or dark-brown wings of a slate 
tinge, white belly, black ring at neck and round the 
rump, tail-feathers not forked but slightly convex, 
body sparrow-size, and not so fish-shaped as swallows 
generally are. The golden -headed and crimson- 
backed little finch perched here, as in Unyanyembe, on 
the stalks of the Indian com near dwellings. Another 
bird had, as Speke described it, a black coat and plush 
waistcoat ; its colours harmonised beautifully with 
the tree on which it sat, a thorny species of jasmine, 
then (December) in rich pink-and-white bloom. We 
had no songsters at Karague, but we had a " bugler," 
who had one very rich note. There never were more 
than firom two to four crows (handsome birds, with a 
ring of white round the neck) seen together, and the 
natives like killing them, as they eat up the red bit- 
ter sorghum, and prevent the people from sowing the 
white or sweet variety. The crow was used here by 
the sultan as supposed to be useful in divining events. 
The crops are protected from the barn-door fowl by a 
barbarous practice — ^the toe-nails of the fowl are cut 
off to prevent them from scratching the ground. This 
is done also in Zanzibar, but here it first attracted 









six :V^: nvo moho:=i : it wa.^ of a Mui:vh-Ma\ k i\\louv, 
^Tn^iiiai^^ l»iv^Ui:ht it in a wiokor kuskot to >ho\\ u\o. 
He said he h:ul luul it for tlmv ilavn, i\\\\\ luoaut (o 
keep it as a pot. Although ono of his luou hoKl it 
fearlessly bv the luvk, thov woiv i\\h\\\\ lo allow \\\o 
to do so, because t hoy called it |H>isomuis ; ho\\oNoi\ 
no fangs were visible. It was ono of tho Tow snakos 
seen in Karague, Rats \vi»iv in swanns. and won* 
very troublesome to tho tradoi^s, Hli^iliug thoir boaiU 
and cowries in considorablo (plant it ion, and oonooalinf^ 
them in their holes ; unfortunately \\i\ had no poimui 
with us when asked for Honu*. by M'nanaj»i'o, Thirt 
shows that the nativos liavt^ no moanH to riil tli(*ni- 
selves of them; some pillH of ilour and puundtMJ 
caustic "were made up, but wo nuvrr hoard wiM'tlii'r 
they were eflFectual. In tho low ilut vall«?yH n«*Hr thn 
lakes, large grey-legged niUHquitoon \nUt through yuur 
socks and trous<.'rH, kcc^ping your linilm in ronfitiint 
motion ; but on the higher ground, where wind blown, 
we were never annoyed l^y any, Tho l><?o thitt pro- 
duces the honey of the <:^>untry n5H<;ndilo« tmv r.nmiwfh 
hive-bee at home; and although U;autifully granulaUd 
honey was brought for wile, we ol/>^<irv<:iJ no jiivisi, 
It certainly is not a pn^iluetive ':^>untry in thj« I'^sj/*-^ t 
— the hills anr l-iarren of flowers, There are numdl 
ties of fUh in the lake; but during my r«:«idji'n'vo uo 
fifeherman wa« ever hf^^ih or h<^rd oL Kjs'ij/t on/^ 
fish, the makainWra- brought me by ilx^: >:ulUif$ ;« a 
dmosiiT alive in a jar, ajid a JjuaJl j^^/u/^J w<:j;jht 
maoquaj-eh- cau^t by a Hf^^hi^: \u th^; Ki^i^uJika Jjuk<:^ 



174 THE YOUNG PRINCES OP KARAGUE. 

wc saw no fish, and the natives never eat them. The 
macquareh attains a great size, has immense large 
scales, no feelers, and a ridge of sharp-pointed fins 
along its arched back, and eats very sweetly. These 
notes must not be accepted as a list of what the coun- 
try contains, but merely a notice of those which struck 
me as strange or interesting. 

The population of Karague may be divided into 
two races : the reigning race or Wahuma; and the 
peasantry, who originally owned, and now cultivate, 
the soil, called Wanyambo, alluded to in the preceding 
chapter. 

The king and his brothers, of the former race, have 
already been described ; a few remarks on their Mo- 
heenda or yoimg princes may be added. This royal 
class or caste have slight marks cut below the eyes ; 
but they neither extract their teeth nor file them into 
any particular shape. Their diet of milk seems to 
make the men a tall active race, while the women get 
out of all proportion with obesity. The grown-up 
sons of the king (according to seniority) were Chun- 
dera, Kienj, Kiinanga, and Kukoko. First, Chundera, 
twenty-five years of age, was a smart active young 
fellow, about five feet eight inches in height, with a 
somewhat effeminate figure and expression of coun- 
tenance; he was fair for a negro, and except that 
his lips were rather thick, and that his wool was in 
regular pepper -corns, he might be taken, firom his 
straight features, for a slim East Indian sepoy. He 
affected the dandy, being more neat about his loin- 
skin cover and ornaments than the other brothers. 
He lived a gay life, was always ready to lead a war- 
party and to preside at a dance, or wherever there 




THE YOUNG PRINCES OF KARAGUE. l75 

was wine or women. From the tuft of wool left un- 
shaven on the crown of his head to his waist he was 
bare, except where decorated round the muscle of the 
arm and neck with charmed horns, stripes of otter- 
skin, shells, and knobs of wood. The skin covering 
the loins, which, with the Karague people, is peculiar 
in shape, reached below the knee behind, and was cut 
away in front. From below the calf to the ankle was 
a mass of iron wire ; and when visiting from neigh- 
bour to neighbour, he always, like every Karague per- 
son, carried in his hand a five-feet-long staff with a 
knob at the end. He constantly came to ask after 
me, bringing flowers in his hand, as he knew my 
fondness for them ; and at night he would take Frij, 
my head man, into the palace along with his " zeze " 
or guitar, to amuse his sisters with Zanzibar music. 
In turn the sisters, brothers, and followers would sing 
Karague music, and early in the morning Master Frij 
and Chundera would return rather jolly to their huts 
outside the palace enclosures. This shows the kindly 
feeling existing between us and the family of the sul- 
tan ; and although this yoimg prince had showed me 
many attentions, he never once asked for a present. 
The second son, Kienj, was by a different mother (the 
sister of the king of Unyoro, I believe) ; he was six 
feet high at least, very black, and so ugly and dispro- 
portionately long about the head, that we called him 
the "camel.'* He was a slow, stupid fellow, very 
simple, and a bumpkin in comparison with the others. 
Like his brothers, he was married, and had one child, 
but lived in the palace enclosure. Previous to my 
leaving he made bold to beg for my only umbrella, 
because his own was past mending I The third son 



176 THE WANYAMBO OR KARAGUE PEASANTRY. 

of the family was so shy that he only came near me 
when told to sit for his portrait ; and the fourth, Ku- 
koko, was such a pet, and was so nice-looking, that 
the father never went anywhere nor did anything 
without taking the young prince along with him. He 
was mild and gentlemanly in manner, and would 
come to us every day, putting out his left hand when 
wishing us good morning, and remaining to chat 
quietly for an hour at a time. After we left Karague 
we sent him a comfortable blanket as a reward for his 
attentions. Although none of these lads had more 
covering than a sheet of leather round the loins, it 
was so neatly put on, their ornaments were so be- 
coming, their persons so bronze-looldng, their gait so 
polite, and distingue, that we quite forgot their naked- 
ness ; more particularly when we saw the effect pro- 
duced by pulling on a pair of white kid gloves upon 
Kukoko's hands, and seeing him strut away with the 
air of a Bond Street swell ! Their food was chiefly 
a bowl of milk once in the morning ; no grain, nor 
mutton, nor fish, nor fowl, but a small quantity of 
boiled beef or goat at night. They looked after the 
cattle belonging to their father, had MTcoongoos, or 
agents of their own, who went to neighbouring coun- 
tries to traflSc for them ; and so domestic were they 
that they never were known to sleep out of their own 
country. 

The Wanyambo are the ryots, or peasantry. In the 
low grounds of Urigi, where there was a great deal of 
swamp at the very doors of the people, they are very 
black and rather lanky. All grease their bodies to 
prevent the skin getting dried in the sun, and smoke 
themselves with sweet fuel having a peculiar heavy 



THE WAXYA2kIB0 OK KARAGUE PEASANTRY. 1 / / 

odour. The Wakungu, or district governors, possess 
probably one sheet of calico, or a scarlet blanket, in 
excess of the skins usually worn by the people. The 
men about Urigi seemed a depressed race, and though 
superior in position (being cultivators of the soil) to 
the Watusi, who tend cattle, they surprised me by 
their appearance of misery; this, however, may have 
been assumed. They have the sultan's orders to furnish 
aU travellers with sufficient provision for themselves 
and followers free of charge ; and in return for this a 
present is generally given of some coils of brass wire. 
Some of our Wanyambo porters showed spirit on the 
march by refusing to be led by an Unyamuezi. On 
this occasion it was alarming to see the fellows using 
their spears and arrows at one another; the whole 
caravan joined in the fray, w^hich became a party 
one, and had to be settled by our men threatening 
to shoot them: one cut finger was the only casu- 
alty. Again, if a Seedee or two wandered away from 
camp amongst the Wanyambo, they were in some 
danger, for this tribe were so drunken and excitable 
that several instances of their boisterous nature proved 
serious to our men when out purchasing provisions. 
About the palace, however, they were very civil, con- 
stantly advising me as to my health, telling me to 
keep my weak limb shut up from the air, to eat 
plenty of meat, &c. They never carried arms when 
near the palace, neither did our men, which was difier- 
ent to our practice in the badly-governed district of 
Usui, where no one dare go about imarmed. The only 
weapon was a five-feet-long knobstick, generally car- 
ried across the shoulder ; and in wishing good morn- 
ing to a comrade the end of the stick was presented 

M 



178 THE WOMEN OF KARAGUE. 

to he touched. The bows of Karague are the finest I 
have seen in any part of the world, 6 feet 2 inches in 
height, and of immense power ; the arrows are about 
the length of the aim, seldom or never poisoned, with 
their tips shaped like a spear-head. There is no par- 
ticular character in the spear : the handle is jBrom six 
to twelve feet long, and the iron part indifierently 
made, the people prizing themselves more upon their 
bows. Guns are unknown, except amongst the princes. 
As has been mentioned, the Wanyambo are fond of 
carousing over drink, singiug and chanting wild airs 
till early morning ; but tottering drunkai'ds such as 
we see at home are never met with — the people have 
more self-respect. The food of those who possessed 
cattle was chiefly milk ; others lived upon boiled sweet 
potato, the flour of Indian-corn or millets, and various 
calavances or beans. Meat they eat when they can 
get it, but fowls and fish are forbidden them, though 
the prince M'nanagee told me the Wanyambo would 
eat the former " on the sly." 

The princesses have been well described by Speke, 
who had more opportunities of seeing them than I 
had. One I saw walking, enormously fat, obliged to 
rest every few paces, by sitting down or reclining in 
a stooping position, one hand grasping a long staff. 
When seated, her head was uncovered, the wool 
allowed to grow into a mop neatly tied off the face 
with a thong of leather, and having a bouquet of bird s 
feathers in the centre. The face was a handsome oval, 
with fine intelligent eyes, and the flesh of her arms, 
bare from the shoulder, hung down like a fashionable 
sleeve. They had few emplo}Tnents, their mode of life 
forbidding this, and most of them could not move 



THE CHILDREN. ] 79 

without the support of a person on either side. In 
some respects they reminded me of Hindoo women. 
In visiting us, the better class, from modesty or cus- 
tom, had a shawl of bark-cloth covering all their per- 
sons except one eye, while they wore the ordinar}' 
friezed cow-skin from the waist to the ankle. They 
were very fond of pictures, the sultan always indulging 
them by sending my sketches for their amusement 
They could make caps of cane stuffed from the outside 
with their own wool, like moss in a summer-house. 
Their children were very handsome, with large shining 
black eyes : the wool was never shaved off their heads 
nor cut till after marriage, and no covering was ever 
on their loins till the age of puberty, or even later. 
Boys and girls would come to look at us, careless or 
unconscious of their nudity, and chatting without the 
slightest shyness. A wet-nurse is provided for the 
infant prince or princess, who is generally suckled 
away from home, as was the custom amongst High- 
land families in the last century. Their after-diet is 
altogether milk : they are whipped into drinking and 
fattening themselves with it. No marriage ceremonies 
were observed, but on two occasions we saw a couple 
of women walk together without any folio wei*s, one of 
them hidden in bark-clothes ; and we undei-stood that 
the veiled one was being conveyed to her betrothed. 
The dead of the Wanyambo, as has already been men- 
tioned, are deposited in the lake, and piinces alone 
receive burial on the island. On one occasion we 
observed inside a village enclosure two sticks tied to 
a stone, and lying across the pathway ; and this was 
done, as w^e ascertained, to prevent people walking 
over the spot, as a woman had died there. 



180 THE RESIDENCE OF RUMANIKA. 

With respect to the habitations of the people, sup- 
pose that on the face of a bare hill overlooking a lake 
we place forty or fifty low dome-looking huts of cane, 
covered with grass; divide them into sets of twos and 
threes by screens and gates of cane ; throw an em- 
bankment round the whole, and have a dense hedge 
of euphorbia trees on the top of the embankment, 
screening the view of the lake and the coimtry 
around, and you have the Palace of Eumanika, con- 
taining his five wives, sons, four hundred cows and 
their calves, &c. Except a hut or two outside this 
" bomah,'' nothing but a curl of smoke in the vaUeys 
showed that there was any population in the country. 
Descend to the valleys, and you find neatly-formed 
huts of grass inside the plantain-groves. Their inte- 
riors are plastered for five feet with cow-dung and mud; 
the ceiling is of cane, blackened by smoke, for there 
is no fireplace. The temporary huts made for us by 
our Seedees were gable-ended, made of props from the 
meelomba or bark-cloth tree, and roofed over with 
grass and the decayed leaves of plantains, the whole 
made water-tight by India-rubber sheeting being 
placed on their roofs — the last a requisite which the 
traveller should never forget. The sultan generally 
received us in a tidily-kept hut, carpeted with the 
silky leaves of the papyrus, and loopholed in several 
places for visitors outside to make him their obeisance 
by clapping their hands and addressing him. Here, 
seated on his warm bedding, we chatted and laughed 
with him, paying long and pleasant visits, his majesty 
at the same time smoking his large black pipe. 
Screens of cane, placed as gates, prevented our inter- 
views being interrupted, and permission was required 



CRIME, HOW PUNISHED. 181 

before any one could visit him or pass those barriers, 
where men always stood, like porters at the Govern- 
ment offices. The ordinary mode of salutation of an 
Unyambo or ryot of Karague, when he reached a 
circle of people seated, was to present the end of 
his staff to each acquaintance, who touched it, say- 
ing, "Verembe, verembe, verembe kooroongee," i.e., 
How do you do, how do you do, how do you do? are 
you very well ? The same answer would be given, 
and the same salutation exchanged, if two met upon 
the road. To a superior they also hold out the stick, 
bnt it is only acknowledged by a nod from him. 

Crime w^as seldom observed or heard of, but the 
people had their distinct punishments, and traders had 
the protection of the sultan. A caravan of Moossah's 
was plundered by the Urigi chief, who was at once 
arrested and made over as a slave, to be dealt with at 
the coast as Moossah chose. The property lost or 
destroyed was doubly repaid by the sultan in ivory, 
and the chief, in gratitude to Moossah for not making 
a prisoner of him, promised a present of ten tusks 
every time his caravan should pass through his dis- 
trict I am indebted to M'nanagee, who judges all 
cxises for his brother the king, for the following list of 
offences with their punishments : — An ear is cut off 
for adultery; if the case occurs with a slave or a 
princess, the offender is tortured, as in the Ukuni case, 
and his throat is cut. Simple theft: kept in the 
stocks from two to ten months. Striking and a.ssault- 
ing with stick : ten goats. Assault with six^-ar, lx>w 
and arrow : property confiscated, half going to the sul- 
tan and half to the injured party; if the culprit has no 
property, he is put into the stocks. Murder : all pro- 



182 ARAB PUNISHMENTS. 

perty made over to the relatives of the murdered 
person, and the eyes of the murderer gouged, or he 
is thrown over the precipice below the palace. K a 
husband comes upon a case of adultery, he is per- 
mitted to kill the offender on the siK>t. Unnatural 
crimes they regard with horror, but these are said to 
be known only amongst the "waeroo" or slaves; so 
that the Karague laws are as strict as our own, and, 
without statistics, I believe there is far less crime. 
The punishments at Muscat and Zanzibar, under Arab 
government, were described to me by Frij, and are 
barbarous in compai'ison with the code at Karague. 
For theft, the hand is cut off; if the propert}'-is re- 
covered, the thief at Zanzibar is buried in the sea- 
shore up to his neck, to allow the tide to reach him — 
a mode of punishment that will remind the reader of 
the case of the alleged WigtoAvn martyrs. Some 
silver and clothes were stolen from the sultan of Zan- 
zibar, and the thieves being detected were pulled up 
to the top of a flagstaff and thrown to the ground. 
At Muscat the tongue of the thief is cut off, and 
owing to this severe punishment there are few cases 
of theft. The Arabs are hard masters, and train their 
servants (several of whom were with us) in a system 
of rigorous discipline. To enforce despatch, a master 
will spit on the ground, and say to his ser\'ant, " If 
that dries up before you return with an answer to 
my message, youll get flogged." 

Musical instruments were in greater variety in 
Karague than we had previously met with, and the 
little plaintive native airs could be picked up and 
hummed, they were so sweet and pleasing to the ear. 
There was stringed, wind, and drum music. Their most 



MUSICAL IXSTUrMKXTS. 1S:> 

perfect instrument was the "nanga," of seven or i^ight 
strings ; it may be called national. In one of t hes(\ 
played by an old woman, six of the seven notes wow 
a perfect scale, the seventh being the only funlly 
string. In another, played by a man, thnu^ stringrt 
were a full harmonious chord. These facts show that 
the people are capable of cultivation. The " nanga '* 
was formed of heavy dark wood, the shape of a tray, 
22 by 9 inches or 30 by 8, with three op(!n (tohw^h 
in the bottom, and laced with one string rcjvc^i or eight 
times over bridges at either end ; somtitimes a goiii'd, 
as sounding-board, was tied on to the back. PriiKio 
M'nanagee, at my request, sent the Ixjst j)layer lut 
knew. The man boldly entered without introduc- 
tion, dressed in the usual WanyamlK) costunn;, and 
looked a wild, excited creature. A{Utr resting his 
spear against the roof of the hut, he took a " nariga " 
from under his arm and commence^L As he sat u[Kin 
a mat with his head averted from me, never smiling, 
he sang something of his having h-MXi wmt U) me, and 
of the favourite dog Keeroml^ The wild yet gentle 
music and words attracted a crowd of a/lmirers, who 
sang the dog-song for days afteni-ard^, oh we h;ul it 
encored .several time^s. Another player w;i8 an old 
woman, calling her-«elf " Keel^^ranyagga." Ah 5<he 
played while .standing in frr^nt of me, all the ?K/ng ^he 
could produce was "sh," **hh" «^rrewing her rnouth, 
rolling her Vyly. and raising her f<--^ft from the irrouuf] ; 
it was a mi-^rrable j/^rrforrn^nr:^, and not T'ly/^x/A. 

Of wind iLrtruments we \m\ the fife air»d honi. 
The fif^ 13 more common wir.h the T'gAndA th^n the 
Kamgue yrfj\A^ It Ls an 1 *-iri^'h-loT;jr Ufflloyr'/l f/yJ, 
about the thiekn^Si- of a ^jf'nttk;.h flf*Vr, U \Af\ Ukf. ft 



184 rumanika's band of musicians. 

flageolet, has a slit at the top, and six finger-holes. As 
the Waganda walk smartly along the road, with a light 
load on their heads, they often while away the time 
with this rude instrument, out of which some of them 
bring soft, sweet, flute-like music. The bugle they 
have is shaped like a telescope, and is made of several 
pieces of gourd fitting into each other, and covered 
with cow-skin. It is 12 inches long. An expert 
performer on this bugle can produce a whole chord, 
which is varied by the thumb acting as a key. 

Drums are of different shapes, according as they are 
beaten by the hand or by a stick. The drum made 
for the hand is a 4 -feet-long log, hollowed out in the 
shape of an inverted dice-box, open at the lower end, 
and covered at the top, which is 1 foot across, with 
the skin of an ichneumoa It is slung fix)m the left 
shoulder, and played by tapping and stopping with 
the fingers. The thirty-three drums seen ranged in 
line at the ceremony after new-moon were of every 
possible shape, except round, which they all tried to 
be. They were trunks of trees hollowed out, and 
covered over with skin. Two copper kettle-drums had 
found their way into the collection. The sultan had 
an excellent band, of its kind, composed of 16 men, 
who performed several tunes before us. The instru- 
ments were 14 bugles and 2 hand-drums. Three 
ranks, the drummers in the rear, formed in front of 
us, and played, with great spirit and precision, bugle 
music in waltz and march time. While " trooping " 
they advanced, swaying their bodies very gracefully to 
the music ; and as they neared us all halted except 
the bandmaster, who, as he played, being an active, 
well-made little man, advanced to our feet, kneeling 



DISPUTE AlKHT A rUll.n. K^:» 

nimbly on alternate knees in time to the musii*. The 
drummers were energetie, smart, n\irthful fellows ; 
and their music, sounding so sweetly miioiig tlu» hills, 
was more pleasant than any performauee I had i»ver 
expected to witness in Africa. It was calhul Unyon) 
music, but at Unyoro we heard none of it in eonm*- 
quence of the moroscness of the king. All tlu^ {\\\\ks 
we were at Karaguc we saw no dance worth noting; 
they did not seem much given to dancing, and tht^ 
war-drum was never sounded. Long may this <ton- 
tinue ! On such occasions the men take the field and 
the women beat the drums. An alarm (jf <iatth», hav- 
ing been captured was once 8])read, and \\\k\ mm 
rushed about in hot haste, armed (»a(;h with a Hingh? 
spear and their faitliful bow and arrowH ; but it 
proved false, and the bold Prince (Jhundcrah wan 
disappointed of a raid. 

The only alarms we experienced were cauwid by th<j 
hyena or other animals stealing from uh. 1Vic<j an 
infuriated mob came shouting inUi our camp, the voIcch 
of the women U^iug alxjve all otherH. A woman h;i/l 
a child, and two men fought for it. Each claimed it ; 
the woman wouldn't give it up ; she ^:^iuldu't H<;ttle the 
dispute ; would the whitf^ man do it ? I wa« not for 
some time marie awan^ of the circum>5tan';^;« ; but my 
Seedee feer\'ant ap|yjint4^1 himij^Jf arbitr.T, and, af(/rr 
looking at both the men and the child, <W;j'l«;^J 
who was the rightful liither, afu.-r which they aJJ 
scampfrr.-d off in noi^jv c^^nfuhjon. A >^-/'/nA ':a;y; wa>. 
Boon afu-r dec-id':^! in the hiame way, but with a diir«ri - 
ent reifult- for the man who 1^-^t the isuit \/j^k hh-. 
sj^ear and Xhr^^ViUfA Vj fctab the jjjf?»fjt '/'i^e Afii';a/j, 
Lowtrver, i-i morf: prompt iu •rpbbcL tWj in a/;tio/j- 



186 RELIGION AT KARAGUE. 

Of religion, the only approach to it has been men- 
tioned in the various superstitions of the king and his 
brother, who made idols of horns filled with various 
charms. To these they appeal for aid against an 
enemy, for the blessing of health, for the discovery of 
men's inward thoughts, for rain, &c. In the event of 
a war or a journey, the mysterious horn was consulted 
as to the probable success of the expedition. Another 
belief is that certain animals are possessed of deA'ils, 
but are in the power of soothsayers. We found that 
amount the AVahuma kin^i^s it was lawful to cohabit 
with a brother's wife, or with his own sister. 

They have no knowledge whatever of reading, 
writing, or arithmetic. A printed book to them was 
like a picture-book to a child ; its leaves were turned 
over one by one carefully by the most intelligent, and 
immediately shut up by the more ignorant. For twenty 
years Arabs have been amongst them, but Mohamme- 
danism has taken no hold of the king or his people. 
The country presents a wide field for commerce to 
pave the way for regenerating an intelligent race. 

On reading the ten commandments to my Moham- 
medan friend Jumah, who dealt in slaves, ivory, &c., 
often complaining that his slaves were under no con- 
trol, he shook hands with me after each command- 
ment, saying how true and excellent they were, he 
believed in them all. " But do you practise them ? " 
I asked. " Read * Honour thy father and thy mother,' 
and tell me how can the slaves honour their fathers 
and mothers if you tear them away from their fami- 
lies?" "Oh, I am a father to them." "How can 
you be a father ? Are the affections of a parent not 
as strong in Africa as anywhere else ? " He felt the 



DEPARTIKE FROM KAUAiU K, IS," 

force of the argument, asked nie to ilosist l\\n\\ |>n*88- 
ingtbe matter, as it was not convenient to <ulop( (lu\Me 
sentiments at present He wouUl n^turn to Zan/.ilmr, 
never again keep slaves, study the Ilihle, nnd jjt) to 
England. I wished to believe that lie snid thirt in 
sincerity, for the conversion of one infhu'iitiul nuin in 
such a land would be of importance. 

By the end of March 18(52 there wen* Htinie Iic)|m»h 
of my leaving Karague to join i>[)v\n\ in Uj^anda. 
The king had sent an officer and forty of IiIm mm tn 
convey me up to the kingdom [ ho lon/{ winlird Ia) him*. 
Eumanika had received his pnjHcntH of a WhilAVorlJi 
rifle. Tranter's revolver, Invernciss capc^, cIoIJih, lieadM, 
japanned box, a compass, pair of binoculars, Ar.., Ut 
conciliate him ; and he had acted tlic part of a kind 
Mend in giving us all the infonnation in liin power 
An Unyamuezi ^Fganga, or prient, imiwA K i'^np;o, wfin 
to join my party, but until he luul cornplet^rd Win ar- 
rangements the march could not Uikf, \t\iU'M. Th^? 
Wamnda who had arrived for me were clarnorouH Ut 
get away, but they refu.^^rrl to o^rry the lufjtysii//: ; an/l 
as Eumanika could provide no jfftrtj-.n, thr^-^vf/zurtJi/t of 
it were left b^:hind in hw charjre. iJ^^in^r unable f// 
walk. I was phw>;d in a wicker .Htrefy:her /^April 14, 
1^62;. and waj% trott^l off or* the h^ad.^ of foT>r 
Waganda, WL-hin^ Up *h;ib': ih^ufU with kr>m;>r;iicA, 
I onkred the carrirrr* hi fxixr^^rj r^e \uUp thf-. j/iU/v;^ 
but nothing would [TArii-.f-. u^:tii U> >sl'j^. rx.f-, ^Uy^ \r, 
was not thrir Awzv, if 7 a«-i>,r*ft w^;V'^ 'r.erAfr/r^-. *f i*. 
throngii Kakoko. hlA iirvir^/-, v*ri ; ^u\ \ U tV. K-?sr 

ff;irf^3St afcoit the ru^-xn iri.-vcrionv ^f r.ir^r»<^I;i, nu^f- 
I b^ped &j r^joia my S^uiw "r^/^u^-r 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE UGANDA MAKCH, APRIL 14 TO MAY 27, 1862 — MABIBOO 
AND HIS UGANDA FOLLOWERS — RICH FOLIAGE — FERRYING 
THE RIVER KITANGULE — SUPERSTITION AGAINST SOL^'DING 
TUE RIVER — ^\'ICTORIA NYANZA, A BOUNDLESS SEA — FINE 
COUNTRY BET\\T:EN KITANGULE AND KTTONGA — FLORA OF 
THE DISTRICT — INCIDENTS OF THE MARCH — ^LUNCH WITH 
UGANDA WOMAN — DISAGREEABLE MARCH — ^THE GOVERNOR 
POKINNO — SUMMER-HOUSES OF THE UGANDA. 

Having been detained at Karague for so many months, 
I was right glad to have a prospect in the end of 
March of getting away to join my companion. A 
party of Waganda, under an officer named Mariboo, 
arrived to take me as far as the Kitangule river, four 
marches, w^here large boats were said to be lying to 
convey me by the lake to Uganda. This, however, 
was not the case ; no boats had been sent, and the 
journey of tw^enty-nine marches w^as performed by land, 
much to our disappointment, as Speke had previously 
been over it, and we missed the navigation of the 
Nyanza. Day by day the Waganda escort deluded 
me with the idea that we would come upon boats by 
the side of the Nyanza; and Mariboo ordered the 



MODE OF COXVEYANOE. Iv^O 

march as he liked, halted when it suited him, got tipsy 
whenever he could, but in the end compensiited for all 
by conveying me safe to his king. 

Eumanika had a sort of litter made up, on wliieh 
the Waganda lads were to carry me ; my lialf-dozon 
Seedees could not have done it, as the country after- 
wards proved to be precipitous, and full of swamps 
and marshy drains. On the morning of the 14tli 
April, when a start was made from Karague, Mariboo 
came into camp with his thirty or forty men, making 
a noise and saying they had been starved while wait- 
ing for the Unyamuezi doctor and myself during tlie 
last fortnight, and were determined to move to-day 
whether I was ready or not. " Bring out the white 
man. Where is his bedding ? Let him get into the 
conveyance." The property, however, had first to be 
despatched. I lost sight of it for two days, but none 
of the loads were plundered. On our journey, the 
stretcher was changed from the head to the slioulder 
of the Waganda, who went at the rate of six miles an 
hour, jostling and paining my limb unmercifully. The 
coach and four, as I may term it, was put down eveiy 
mile, or less, that the bearers might rest, laugli, joke, 
and make a deafening noise with their mum}>ling 
language, beating their tongues to the roofe of tlieir 
mouths. They seldom spoke when in motion, only 
when one stumbled the others would crj" out against 
him, recommending greater care of their diarge. Cer- 
tainly it was not a safe position to Ixj jxTched such a 
height on an open frame of sticks, with n>cky preci- 
pices, small footing for the men, and very often water 
below. One great difficulty w^as to make them cany 
the conveyance so that the countr)' in front could )je 



190 MARCHING WITH WAGANDA. 

seen in travelling ; this they, for some reason, refused 
to do, and persisted in carrying me head first, instead 
of feet. If a grove of phmtain was by the side of the 
path, it could not be resisted ; off all would dash at 
the fniit, eat, and carry away as much as they were 
able, sometimes politely offering me a share, or more 
frequently remaining so long away, as I lay on the 
stretcher, that it became irritating. The best way 
was to join as much as possible with them in their 
frolics ; my men did so, and enjoyed the march ex- 
tremely. 

At these groves, a single bunch or cluster of as 
many as 150 ripe plantains could be got in April, and 
their juice drunk from them al fresco. The large 
leaves of the tree, green, and soft as satin, were spread 
on the ground as a fcible-cloth ; a wisp of grass, well 
softened by rubbing, enclosed a quantity of luscious 
ripe fruit, and what the men seemed most to enjoy 
was to bite and suck the fruit through the grass. 
During the march they all carried some small load 
on their heads, never more than 20 or 30 lb., rolled in 
the form of a web of cloth, neatly bound roimd, and 
having pipes and flutes stuck into it. Each man had 
a spear and shield over his back ; the latter served as 
an umbrella when rain fell ; and thus, with their 
bark-cloths kilted up, their dress was secure from rain 
or boggy ground. On arrival in camp, the march 
costume was changed for a clean suit of bark-cloth as 
stiff as silk, or for a set of many-coloured goat-skins, 
with scalloped, pierced edges, in which they made 
themselves smart, and strutted about like gentlemen. 
Those who had been able to find dogs led them with 
strings tied to their waists or wrists as they ran along. 



MAKCHING WITH WAOANDA. 191 

Verr ridiculous they appeared, for the animals (not 
accustomed to it) always refused to be led in this way. 
On coming near habitations, the men shouted and 
sang, as if carr}Tng some object of triimiph. Had I 
been a dead lion, they could not have made greater 
noise ; and on getting near camp, regardless of culti- 
vated fields, they would plunge into them with mali- 
cious delight, trample them down, slash away branches 
or plantain-trees which came in their way, and deposit 
the litter inside a grove. 

When morning again came, the gay Mariboo, always 
scrupulously clean and proud of his dress, would 
appear, followed by his drummer-boy and dog, to 
announce, by beat of drum, a march or halt. If the 
former, the shouts of his men coming to join him 
would be heard in the distance, and Mariboo would 
answer and receive replies, till one by one all rushed 
up, spear in hand, as if to attack him, shouting alle- 
giance, and causing their "captain" to spring and 
bound with delight, while I looked on with admira- 
tion at the strange and wild spectacle. After several 
exhibitions of this sort, it became evident that pre- 
sents were expected, and if the march was to be a 
success, a little "tipping'' was necessary; conse- 
quently, the captain was summoned to receive a gift 
of beads. His delight, as he handled the beautiful 
small beads, knew no bounds ; his spear was flashed 
up to my face, while his left hand held his shield, 
and he finished with a number of nimble antics. His 
arms laid aside, he repeated, " N'yans, n'yans" (thanks, 
thanks), perhaps fifty times in succession, with a dia- 
gonal motion of both palms at each repetition. This 
over, another mode of thanks was adopted, and was 



192 WAG AND A ARE SO JOYOUS. 

even more agreeable ; he drew his flute from his waist, 
played some soft music, making his eyes twinkle with 
delight, and swayed his body as if channed with his 
own sweet strains. They certainly are a most joyous 
race. On our third march from Karague, the groimd 
was so steep, and there was so much danger of my 
falling off the stretcher, that I was obliged to get out, 
and be half-carried up the rocky side of the hill, never 
dreaming that they would run away \Ndth my convey- 
ance, which they did on seeing that I was able to put 
my foot to the ground. For a couple of hours they 
allowed me to wait there, while they, like a parcel of 
wicked boys, kept throwing rocks down the precipice^ 
listening in perfect quiet till they heard the last sound 
of the stones reaching the bottom of the ravine, when 
all would shout together. 

From the capital of Karague to the right bank of 
the Kitangule, the distance vid Meegongo was forty 
miles over flat-topped bare hills, and across valleys 
with swamps. On emerging from these to the river 
plain, the flat country became studded with mounds 
from six to eight feet high, raised by the ever-working 
white ants. Thorny shrubs, cactus, climbing aloes, 
with pink flowers, covered them, or the jungle of grass 
was varied by circles of brushwood, giving shade to 
the rhinoceros ; the older trees were veiled over with 
silvery grey moss, which drooped gracefully, like the 
pendent branches of the weeping wUlow. The plain 
extended for ten miles, with several "back-waters'' 
upon it, covered with the thorny mimosa and papyrus, 
through which we had to cut our way. Emerging from 
it and going towards the river, we came upon higher 
land — ^a dry grassy plain three miles across, kept short 



THE RIVER KITANGULE. 193 

by cattle, and just the ground on which to find a flori- 
kan. There were several huts, which gladdened the 
eye after a dreary march. The first sight of the river 
Kitangule, which had been so often named to us as an 
old ivory dep6t, and the stream by which wood was 
floated down from Ruanda, was rather disappointing. 
Standing upon its steep shelving bank of white 
gravel, the stream is almost hidden by the papyrus, 
which lines its sides in a depth of from twenty to 
sixty yards ; but when ferrying it, its majestic flow is 
seen. The canoes here were of one log of timber hol- 
lowed out, fifteen feet long, the breadth of an easy- 
chair as you sat in them, and capable of carrying 
fifteen Waganda, with their loads, dogs, spears, and 
large shields. They were propelled by poles through 
a winding channel closely shut in by the papyrus, 
and by paddles when in the stream, a man at each 
end holding one about five feet long. I had ob- 
tained from the Waganda lads several of their neatly 
spun coils of rope, which they carry on their heads ; 
three or four of these were knotted together and a 
stone tied to one end as a sounding-line ; but on the 
ferryman noticing what was to be done, he objected, 
saying his sultan Rumanika would not permit any 
stone to be placed or thrown into the sacred Kitan- 
gule. A bribe at last softened him ; but Mariboo now 
interfered, saying, in his superstition, that he had an 
equally sacred charge from his king — ^namely, that he 
was to convey me in safety to him, and he would 
allow no pranks to be played with the river, for " sup- 
pose in the middle of it some spirit were disturbed by 
a stone, and rose to upset the boat, what would his 
king say ? '' In short, after wasting words and time, 

N 



194 THE RIVER KITANGULE. 

the project was given up, and we commenced the pas- 
sage of the river at a reach four hundred yards long, 
having paid beforehand twenty strings of beads for 
my men, and an extra handful of cowries were given 
by the Waganda to the fenymen. Poling for twenty 
yards through a winding channel cleared of the tall 
papyrus, and not broader than our canoe, we reached 
the stream, fiiUy eighty yards across, judged to be 
five to six fathoms deep, looking as if any man-of-war 
could sail up, and flowing majestically at the rate of 
about three miles an hour. The strength of the cur- 
rent was so great that we had to pole up its right 
bank inside the fringe of papyrus for thirty yards, 
and then the two fenymen, with a paddle each, made 
the canoe glide across diagonally down to the opposite 
channel in the reeds, which they reached with great 
precision. Poling for fifty to eighty yards was now 
adopted, landing upon mire which nearly sucked us 
into its hold ; beyond this, the old line of the river 
rose abruptly like a railway embankment At that 
level the country extended far away in a pleasant 
grassy plain, giving it the appearance of an Indian 
parade-ground ; but the footing was treacherous, being 
full of ant-holes, and dotted with cactus-trees, white- 
ant mounds, vnth their usual vegetation, thistle-looking 
plants, and a scarlet-flowering shrub. In the distance 
to the north were rocky hUls. 

We observed that the w^aters of the Kitangule 
are accumulated from the lakes Karague, Kagaera, 
Kishakka, Ooyewgomah, and water from UtumbL 
This river is, beyond comparison, the greatest body of 
water met with from the south of the Victoria Nyanza 
all round its western shore to its most northerly point, 



THE RIVER KITANGULE, 195 

where the Nile was seen by Speke to make its exit 
from the lake. It reminded me, when ferrying it, of 
the Hoogly ten miles above Calcutta. Every other 
stream entering the lake was walked across, none had 
to be ferried ; and they were so numerous that nine 
and ten might be forded in as many miles ; this was 
a daily occurrence when marching on the western 
shore of the lake. The accumulation of these streams, 
and the rivulets (no rivers) known from Arab infor- 
mation to be in the eastern or unexplored portion of 
the Victoria Nyanza, form a boundless sea of 20,000 
square miles, never traversed from one side to the 
other. All these arteries throw in an immense mass 
of water, and though the greatest of them is the 
Kitangule, still it is 160 miles distant by water from 
the point whence the Nile issues from its parent re- 
servoir, the Lake Nyanza, at 21 miles north latitude. 

The country between the Kitangule and the Ka- 
tonga, a distance of 100 miles, is a parallel series of 
grassy spurs tapering down to the lake's shores on 
the east. There are many beautiful spots on the 
route — ^high grounds from which, for a quarter of the 
horizon, are seen the waters of the lake, or the coun- 
try imdulating and park-like, covered with tall waving 
grasses, and overlooked by rocks. The curves, sweeps, 
and inclines of the hills often blended together in 
great beauty — ^never making the path inconveniently 
steep or too long in ascent or descent All the cul- 
tivation was on these slopes, as the plains between 
them, sometimes six miles across, were ankle-deep in 
water and mud in this month of May ; or where the 
valley was narrow, water would have accumulated in 
a drain four feet deep, across which the Waganda 



196 THE VICTORIA NYAXZA, 

carried me on their necks, or, like a child, in their 
arms. On some marches we had to cross ten diflFer- 
ent waters, and, to avoid others, long detours were 
made to get upon higher grounds. 

The now famous Victoria Nyanza, when seen for 
the fii-st time, expanding in all its majesty, excited 
our wonder and admiration. Even the listless Wan- 
yamuezi came to have a look at its waters, stretching 
over ninety degrees of the horizon. The Seedees 
were in raptures with it, fancying themselves looking 
upon the ocean which surroimds their island home of 
Zanzibar, and I made a sketch, dotting it with imagi- 
nary steamers and ships riding at anchor in the bay. 
On its shores are beautiful bays, made by wooded 
tongues of low land (or points such as Boonjacko and 
Surree Points, guarding the Katonga river) running 
into the lake, with very often a rounded detached 
island at their apicea The low islands of Sesseh lie 
on the western shore of the lake. A deep fringe of 
the papyrus generally hid the view over its waters. 
When standing here, the hoarse tromboning of the 
hippopotamus, wishing to come out to graze, echoed 
from out these rushes. The harbours of the natives 
were cleared spaces composed of a spongy mass of 
seeds, rotten reeds, sticks, and roots. In front, for 
twenty yards, a short rush with a circular leaf grew, 
breaking the small surfing waves on the lake from two 
to three himdred yards, showing that it was of no 
deptk In the distance, large boats paddled along 
from the mainland to the islands of Sessek One, of 
five planks sewn together, having four cross bars as 
seats, was brought to convey me to Uganda; but 
after four of us had got into it with some loads, the 



THE SHORES OF THE LAKE. 197 

craft was so cranky that such a voyage would have 
been madness, the water streaming in. Her bows 
and stem were pointed, standing for a yard over 
the water, with broad central plank from stem to 
stem, rounded outside, answering for a keel, and well 
adapted for ghding through papyms. 

The flora along this tract did not afford much 
variety. The most graceful tree on the route was the 
wild date-palm, growing in clumps of three and four 
upon the bare green hills : its crested plumes waved 
in the breeze, giving almost animal life to the silent 
scene. Birds' nests, or clusters of Indian red fruit, 
hung in pendants from the branches. We met with 
a new acacia, whose thin pods were broad and numer- 
ous ; on looking at the tree, the crop was so abundant 
that the leaves were all but hidden by the fruit. Few 
large trees were seen ; they probably got killed by the 
different varieties of lichens and parasites wliich 
covered them. One acacia with a flat top was netted 
over with bushes of them, as if they had been planted 
on the tops of the branches. The north-east sides of 
trees were observed to have the most moss upon their 
trunks, denoting that it was the dampest wind at that 
particular locality and position. On the 1 4th of May 
I was sheltered from the rays of the sun by the boughs 
of the coffee-shrub, then with clusters of green berries 
bowing down its branches till within reach. Each 
yearly growth or produce could be seen by looking 
at the number of knots in the branches. No care or 
pruning was observed, and the roots near the trunk 
grew very much above the soil. On the gi'ounds fac- 
ing the lake, 20 or 30 miles south of the equator, 
quantities must be grown, as some houses there were 



198 FRUITS AND FOOD. 

found full of sacks containing very large berries of it. 
The sacks were remarkably stout and well made — 
somewhat similar to Calcutta rice-bags. Two fruits, 
new to us, were seen growing — one, the colour and 
size of the Indian loquat, with several stones, but grow- 
ing on a lofty tree with sombre foliage and densely-close 
branches. The other was an underground scarlet fhiit, 
growing in sets of five and six clustered together like 
bananas, and of the same size. After being peeled, 
the pulp, with numerous black seeds, tasted refresh- 
ing as a lime, and was much enjoyed by the Waganda, 
who carried them strung as necklaces. The stalk of 
this plant (an amomum) grows four feet high from a 
creeping knotted root, like that of many grasses ; and 
the scarlet fruit does not show above ground till ripe, 
when it forces up the soU like a mole. 

Food was abundant, plantain particularly so, and 
might be had by the king's guests for the mere pulling ; 
but if fowls, goats, or animal food was required, the na- 
tives charged almost London prices, preferring cowries, 
which we had none of, to beads. In the houses differ- 
ent grains were slung, in plantain-leaf coverings, from 
the posts which support the roofing. The staple food 
of the people is green plantain, a particular variety, 
boiled, when the peel comes off freely, and eaten like 
mashed potato. A piece of meat boiled with them 
made both very savoury, but plantain alone is not 
satisfying to a European. The various uses made of 
tliis tree surprised us. A chip from the bark was so 
watery that the hands could be well washed with it, 
but it was said to crack the skin : thread, wrappers, 
and stripes like ribbons were taken from the trunks, 
and the leaves were made into screen-fences, &c. 



WINE-MAKING. 199 

The wine I have before mentioned ; two quarts of 
it could be drunk without any injurious effect. Every 
large hut seemed to have a trunk of a tree scooped 
out like a canoe, leaving a narrow opening. Several of 
these are collected in the grove when sufficient fruit 
has ripened, and the plantain juice is put in them to 
ferment, with some grain, and heaped over with leaves. 
The scene at opening these, after three days of fer- 
mentation, was quite a festive one. The immense 
gourds of the village were brought to be filled ; cups 
were made from the leaves to taste the new beverage, 
and all was merry as at a carnival. A species of wine 
was made by the Waganda boys, very simple in its 
mode of manufacture, and excellent to drink. A small 
cavity was made in the ground, plantain leaves were 
placed flatly into it, so as to make a basin for liquid. 
Fruit, mixed with leaves, was pressed with the hands, 
some water added, and the leaves ultimately thrown 
away, leaving the "togweh" in the basin ready for 
drinking. 

In travelling through this country our Seedees never 
received any pay as in the southern provinces, for the 
king of Uganda gave orders to his people to provide 
and cook for us. This was not always done ; it more 
fixjquently happened that as soon as our approach was 
seen the natives fled, leaving almost all their goods 
and chattels at our mercy. No persuasion would 
bring them back, they are so accustomed to be sur- 
rounded and captured by troops of men sent by the 
king. Several influential officers in charge of distiicts 
were seen on this route — Simjabee, Kittareh, Kuddoo, 
and some of the Wazeewa or Wahia race. All brought 
presents of fowls, buttermilk, sugar-cane, and wine. 



200 CHIEFS OF DISTRICTS. 

Simjabee was a tall, thin, long-faced man, with small 
beard, and very much marked on the forehead with 
smallpox. HLs caste was not a particular one, for he 
ate honey, boiled beef, goat, sheep, antelope, water-boe, 
beans, and grains, and drank boiled milk and wine. 
He was a gentle old man, and begged for wires and 
large beads, which I did not possess. His present was 
several fowls and some buttermilk, which I thought 
strange to see in this part of the world. Kittareh 
called, bringing a bunch of the richest plantain I ever 
saw, actually dropping juice. Before presenting it he 
went through the Uganda custom of smoothing it 
over with his hands, and rubbing it on his face. We 
became great friends, and he took me over his neatly- 
kept premises enclosed trimly with high fences of 
plantain leaf. In his hand he held by a cord a red 
pariah dog, and a liver-and-white beagle (?) followed at 
his heels. This animal was the only one of the kind 
I had observed. Kuddoo, a fine intelligent young 
fellow, was my companion up to Uganda : it was his 
duty to see that the various district officers on our 
route provisioned us properly. He was very fond of 
looking at pictures, a hunting-knife, or any European- 
made article. On my showing him a paper of pins, 
and strewing numbers amongst a crowd for them to 
take as curiosities, I was surj^rised to see all collected 
most carefully and returned to me, because their king 
did not permit them to keep anything so strange. 

They are under extraordinary control these Wagan- 
da, and obey their king through fear, making as smart 
obedient soldiers as any in existence. Two on our 
march quarrelled one day, and fought in the most 
manly maimer — ^not with spears, knives, or bows and 



MODES OF SALUTING. 201 

arrows, as an Unyambo, Seedee or Wanyamuezi would 
do. They planted their spears, tucked up their bark 
clothes, and wrestled until one knocked the other 
down, and held him till he gave in. Previous to 
our leaving the finely-kept grounds of Kittareh (the 
man owning the beagle), he brought out a stirrup- 
cup of wine and some boiled plantain-squash for the 
Waganda lads, who, having finished all, knelt in a 
body before the old man to thank him for his polite- 
ness. This they did by diagonaUy swinging their 
hands placed together, and repeating the words 
" N'yans, N'yans," or " M'wambeea, MVambeea," in 
a loud chorus— after which, aU sprang up, looking 
grateful and happy. The upper class are in the habit 
of making speechea On a present being put into 
their hands, they hold it, and talk for five minutes 
expressing thanks. The Waganda mode of salute on 
meeting a friend is peculiar: neither party smiles 
imtil the words "Nyo, Nyi, Nyogeh,'^ are repeated 
alternately by each many times, when one makes bold 
to address a sentence, then resumes the " Nyo '^ once 
or twice, and after these formalities a conversation 
may with propriety commence. When the women 
wish to show respect to a superior, they kneel before 
him like the Wanyamuezi women. All these social 
forms are as scrupulously attended to in Africa as the 
ceremonies at the most polite court of Europe. 

On the march we never knew where we were to halt 
for the day. The men did not know themselves; 
they could not tell the probable time of arrival, so 
that the dinner-hour was always uncertain; and if 
our baggage was tied up by seven in the morning, 
we seldom left before eleven : once off, we continued 



202 UNCERTAIN LIFE OF THE AFRICAN. 

wandering till sunset. They were like a parcel of 
hungry hounds, darting into every hut> spear up, and 
shouting at places where they thought they could 
safely plunder, eating and diinking on the way per- 
haps five or six times a-day. Mariboo, although in 
charge of me, would be absent for days drinking, 
allowing me to get on as I best could ; consequently, 
on several occasions, my conveyance, bedding, and 
WTiting materials were nowhere to be found. Some 
villagers, instead of presenting our party with wine, 
would in excuse make an oflFering of half-a-dozen 
cowries to me, and on having it explained to them 
that the white man did not exact presents, they 
would express great surprise. The Wezee doctor 
(Kiengo) of our party had Rumanika's orders to seize 
the officer of the Kisuere district for having com- 
mitted two misdemeanours. The man had been to 
pi-esent me with a gourd of wine, and did so ver)' 
hurriedly, slipping away from my sight. Soon after, 
chase was given, a party following him up to his 
house, but the alarm had preceded him. The cattle 
that were to have been taken as forfeited to Rumanika, 
and the wives who were to have become the wives of 
Kiengo, were both driven to the jungles, but the 
plunder that fell to the lot of his pursuers was brought 
into our camp. The case was an illustration of the 
uncertain life of African men and women. The home 
they have lived in since the day of their birth, may in 
an instant, by the caprice of another, be wrested from 
them, or they may return to find it a ruin. My 
Waganda were careful not to plunder too much in 
their own country, for fear of the wrath of their king; 
but when in Rumanika's territory, or on the borders 



THE SHORES OF THE LAKE. 203 

of their own, they never hesitated to seize what they 
could. In the same way the Karague race of Wan- 
yambo, now that they were of our party in the strange 
land of Uganda, were the most expert of thieves, 
making travelling painful and annoying from the 
cries of the suflFerers, On inquiring of an officer 
whether such plunder was permitted by the king, he 
replied that the order was that the natives should quit 
their houses as soon as a guest can^e into the country, 
and take to the hill-tops. Numerous instances of this 
were observed, and on my wandering up a hill to 
beckon them back, they retired as we approached. 
On this occasion I had an instance of the taste of the 
Waganda race. The sun was setting (it was the 13th 
of May 1862), when one of them, having pointed out 
to me the various directions of the countries around 
us, quickly turned, and eagerly directed my attention 
to the full moon rising out of the Victoria Nyanza, 
sending its glittering rays over the beautiful placid 
waters. Here was a lover of the picturesque 1 

On the slopes looking towards the lake the climate 
was delightful, quite English ; only once, in a confined 
valley, did the temperature show a great heat — ^viz., 
97^^ falling during the night, with the cold damp air, 
to 50^ We had showers, on an average, almost every 
third day between 15th April and 19th May, and but 
one severe N.E. storm of wind and rain. On the 
14th of May, our Seedees predicted that no rain 
would fall if Dr Kiengo's magic horn of an antelope 
were placed in the sun ; " for," said they, " is not the 
M'ganga out ? No rain ever falls when it is in the 
open." Sure enough, when rain was threatened, the 
horn was taken in to prevent its getting wet The 



204 WAGANDA ORNAMENTS- 

contents of these idol horns must be renewed periodi- 
cally, as the charm within them is supposed to live 
or have power only for a certain period of time. 
Some other superstitions were observed on this route : 
— By the path a pole was stuck into the ground, with 
a large land-shell or some relic on the end of it ; or 
the same relic was placed on the tallest branch of a 
tree. In the same way that we sometimes place a 
horse-shoe behind our front door, they hang a small 
charm of rush and feathers, or have a magic wand in 
the house. The Waganda had anklets of seeds, wood, 
&c., which were supposed to keep away snake-bites ; 
but few or no snakes were seen. Their other charms 
and ornaments consisted of tiaras of the abrus seeds, 
tiaras of large snowberries, necklaces of the scarlet 
amomum fruit, tusks of the wild boar, horn-tips of 
antelope, and a square or kidney-shaped pendant round 
the neck, covered with the skin of a serpent 

The industry and wealth of the Wazeewa or ISIohia 
(a race mentioned in the Karague chapter), amongst 
whom our camp was pitched for a few days, was very 
marked. Some of them had migrated from the right 
to the left bank of the Kitangule, and were now cul- 
tivators under the king of Uganda, bringing all the 
grains of the countr}' for barter into our camp. They 
seemed a very cleanly race, using little or no grease po- 
made on their bodies, and never sitting down unless 
some grass or leaves were placed between them and the 
ground. Many of their bark-cloths were coloured red 
crimson, having zigzag marks of black upon them. They 
dressed their cow-skins ver}^ beautifully, placing them 
stretched on a huge upright square frame to be thinned 
by scraping with a hatchet ; this was observed in Bog- 



WAZEEWA WOMEN. 205 

weh also. One chief amongst them came to see me, 
leading his fat brindled dog, partly of bull-dog extrac- 
tion. He wore a silvery roan-coloured cow-skin down 
his back, and slung from the neck — a most handsome 
garb, almost lustrous, and of which he seemed very 
proud. Their women were comely; and although 
they had an objection to allow me to drink out of their 
gurrahs or earthen jars of water, one of them, while 
her husband, an officer in the king's service, was 
absent, wished to accompany me on the march ; but 
even this pleasure had to be declined, and the pretty 
Wazeewa had to console herself, as many others did, 
without even a lock of my straight hair, which was 
the wonder of them all. These people paid great at- 
tention to their plantain orchards. The bunches some- 
times contained 200 large fruit, bending the stems, 
which had to be supported by a forked stick or ropes. 
On the fruit being ripe the tree is cut down, to permit 
the growth of the young shoot, which comes from the 
parent root. All the groves are of bare-poled single 
trees, which makes the fruit much finer than if the trees 
were allowed to grow in clusters ; and should the leaf- 
stalk droop too much from the trunk, the natives ban- 
dage it up to prevent rain from beating into the heart 
of the tree. They use large circular trays, four feet 
across, made of osiers, and covered with cow-dung, for 
drpng their grain in the sun. An article of diet not 
seen before was locusts; a number of them were 
brought in by a woman to be roasted as food. They 
were one inch long, had two pairs of wings, and an- 
tennae 1^ inches long. White ants also, when yoimg 
and freshly fledged, were caught in a framework placed 
over their mound of earth, to be eaten by the people. 



206 A WOMAN MADE PRISONER. 

In concluding these remarks upon the country lying 
between the two rivers Kitangule and Katonga, which 
is occupied by Wanyambo, Wanyoro, Wazeewa, and 
Waganda, it may be mentioned that "Khass Uganda," 
or Uganda proper, has yet to be reached when the 
Katonga river is crossed ; and as the dwellings, domes- 
tic and wild animals, &c., had nothing about them 
peculiar, we shall not stop to describe them, but cross 
the arm of the lake at the mouth of the above river. 

Letters from Speke announced that the king of 
Uganda, as well as himself, were impatient for my ar- 
rival, and that I was expected to come by water. The 
king, he said, now dressed in English clothes, and our 
men were regularly supported by him. Uganda, how- 
ever, was not a land of milk and honey. Grain could 
not be had to make bread, and I was, if possible, to 
lay in stores of flour and pease among the Wazeewa 
people. 

By sunrise of the 20th May 1862, I had packed and 
was ready to cross the equator at Katonga Bay. See- 
ing a new face seated apart from, but within sight of, 
Mariboo's little wife, for the sake of speaking to the 
downcast-looking creature I advanced and asked her 
the way out of camp ; she suckled an infant, was very 
pretty, with deep black round eyes, and she smilingly 
gave the information. She was so interesting that on 
getting into camp for the day I inquired her history. 
She had been captured by my Waganda the previous 
day, and was now their prisoner, for our party was 
strong, and her relatives, had they come to claim her, 
would also have been made slaves. She had not been 
brought into camp : we never again saw her, and my 
Seedees told me she must have been sold, as the Wa- 



CROSS THE BAY OF KATONGA. 207 

ganda would never give her up for nothing, or they 
might have killed her. 

On the 20th of May, as I sat on a height admiring 
the bcautiftd Katonga Bay, one mile across, and look- 
ing at the sweep of richly-wooded land on its other 
side, with hills in the background, the king of Ugan- 
da's order arrived that I was to proceed to his capital 
by land, and the pleasure I had long anticipated of 
being conveyed by water was doomed to disappoint- 
ment My heart sank within me. I descended, how- 
ever, to the edge of the bay, where our men were 
amusing themselves, and where five or six canoes were 
ready for the party. The Waganda and our Seedees 
got into them to splash and duck each other. The 
fowls belonging to the ferryman were seized and killed 
previous to crossing over, because, if the hippopotamus 
heard them crow, the canoes would be upset 1 Hours 
of larking were spent, and at last fourteen of us, with 
ten loads, sat in my canoe of four paddles, and we 
emerged from the winding channel of tall rushes into 
the bay ; here we were joined by two other canoes, all 
well laden. Racing commenced, the paddlers facing 
to the front, scooping the water with all their might 
as they sat on the sides of the canoe, and, for a mar- 
vel, not splashing us, for three-quarters of a mile over 
rippled water. Here, for the first time, I met with a 
plant whose leaves looked very beautiful in the water, 
growing by those of the lily of the Nile — namely, the 
Trapa natans, the roots of which the Waganda cat. 
There was no shore to land at; a floating mass of 
tangled grasses prevented the further progress of the 
canoe, and we had to jump out into the water. One 
leg went down four feet to hard sand, w^hile the other 



208 AN AFRICAN LUNCHEON. 

had to be pulled out of the grasses. A mile of this 
disagreeable wading, wdth a mid-day sun on the equa- 
tor, was dreadfully fatiguing. On getting out of 
the swamp, we found the country flat and grassy, with 
cleared cultivated spots and huts. Here, in the shade 
of some plantain, while resting till the loads arrived, 
I saw Mariboo's wife enter the houses, quite alone, 
bringing out a large bundle, which she placed on the 
ground, and she was immediately surrounded by her 
servant-girl and two Waganda. I also made one of 
the party. The bundle contained boiled plantain, 
sweet potato, and a species of solanum — the dinner of 
the people whose house she had entered! All seemed 
to enjoy it so much, eating it in such a refined way, 
with a leaf in their fingers to prevent them getting 
burnt, that the little woman, without any Hindoo cere- 
mony, enticed me to join them, and I never made a 
better luncheon. Everything was cooked in the most 
savoury way, and I learned that African cooking is 
as cleanly and quite as wholesome as our own. It 
seemed strange that we should be so calm and un- 
concerned, when the tall spears of the inhabitants 
watching our movements were seen in the distance ; 
but IVIrs Mariboo must have knowTi that the natives 
dared not attack any party belonging to the king. 

The journey from Katonga Bay to the capital of 
Uganda — named Kibuga — was without exception the 
most disagreeable I ever made. Climbing over hills is 
bad enough for a lame person, but when a broad miry 
bog runs between each range, and there is no means of 
getting through it but by sinking into mud and water at 
every step, disgust is superadded. Most of the valleys 
were a quarter of a mile wide ; others were square, 



ROADS AND BRIDGES IN UGANDA. 209 

and four miles from hill to hill — a dense mass of 
sombre foliage concealing their swamps, musquitoes, 
and low grounds. Ravines, dells, and gullies, formed 
by the waters from the hill-sides, were veiled with 
impenetrable thickets; above these the inhabitants 
dwelt, surroimded by groves of the plantain at con- 
siderable distances from each other. Occasional red 
clay ant-heaps, boulders, and a few trees dotted the 
middle height of the hills, and the sky-line was a 
vegetation of waving grass, from three to six feet 
higL The general elevation of these hills above their 
valleys is four hundred feet On their flat tops the 
air was fresh and delightfuL Whichever way you 
looked, from your feet to the horizon was a sea of 
these flat-topped ridges and conical hills. 

The Waganda make first-rate pioneers ; one is struck 
with the direct cuts they make across the hills : perhaps 
their duty of conveying messages, or bringing in cattle 
and slaves to their king, conduces to this quickness of 
movement. When carrying me, if a hill, however 
steep, was to be crossed, they went directly over it, or 
if a bog was to be forded, it was all one to them — 
they would dash right into it. We had never seen a 
road in Africa till coming into Uganda; here they 
were so broad that a carriage might have driven along 
them, but they were too steep for any wheeled convey- 
ance. No metal was used on them, but the grasses 
had been trodden down by the constant driving to 
and fro of cattle and slave-hunting parties. Attempts 
at bridges had been made, but we found them in a 
state of dreadful disrepair. Originally, in the late 
king Soona's time, piles with a forked end had been 
driven into the bog, and logs of wild date-palm, &c., 





210 THE £NS£T£ OF BRUCE. 

were laid parallel with the run of the valley upon 
the piles, forming a passage about twelve feet broad. 
These had sunk and rotted, and walking over them 
with bare feet was annoying and painfuL The trees 
and deep green foliage in the moist dells were densely 
thick and lofty, some with straight unhitched stems, 
towering higher than any ordinary palm. Ferns, 
mosses, creepers, climbers, &c., hid or covered their 
trunks and branches, making shade for the wild buf- 
falo and elephant, who, unconscious of a stage erected 
overhead to watch them, would come to escape the 
heat of the day. 

An extraordinary-looking tree, of the plantain 
family, was seen growing wild outside a cultivation. 
I brought home its seeds, and they have been pro- 
nounced to be the Ensete of Bruce, first discovered by 
him in Abyssinia. From its similarity to the plantain 
I had almost passed it imnoticed, but was attracted by 
its marvellous stoutness of stem and disproportionate- 
ly low appearance, its shape being as if one big drum 
were placed over another, with gigantic single leaves 
growing from their sides. The natives wore necklaces 
made of its seeds, which were called M'seegwah by our 
Seedees. At 3°N. they were again met with, growing 
upon broken rocky heights, but they were seen nowhere 
else. The leaves were much eaten by the goats. 

The stretcher which carried me part of the way 
from Karague had been discarded, as the Waganda 
saw my only ailment was lameness and stiflF knee-joint 
Through such a rough country walking was very tire- 
some and a severe exertion, and it was made more so by 
the pace these excitable Waganda travel at But they 
were very civil in assisting me through difficulties, a 



INCIDENTS DURING THE MARCH. 211 

sergeant and two privates (if we may call them so) 
being in constant attendance, leading the way or at 
my heels. They were Mariboo's chief men, fine fel- 
lows, very polite in lending a hand or even bringing 
water to wash off the pair of black boots of mud I 
had got in coming through the bogs. The marches 
varied from 9 to 11 miles daily, occupying from 7-J 
A.M. till noon, or later, according to circumstances. 
K it was a populous country, and our long line 
passed through a grove having dwellings inside it, 
more time was taken. Each hut was entered and 
ransacked ; cautiously a Seedee or Waganda^ musket 
or spear all ready, would go to the door and call, 
" Ho, ho 1 " and, gaining admission, come out with 
what he had picked up — tobacco, or a good bark-cloth. 
Every house passed was in this way plimdered, while 
the inhabitants watched us in the distance. Travelling 
was most disagreeable, and sometimes our men suffered 
for their rashness. The light-hearted gallant little 
Mariboo came for the aid of two guns one day, because 
one of his men had been wounded on entering a hut 
My Seedees were up in an instant, ready to leave the 
baggage and myself to take care of each other, but no 
more than the number asked for went, and they re- 
turned without a combat At another camp we were 
told to have our guns ready in the morning, as the 
natiyes were up in arms; a boy amongst them had 
been, the previous night, captured, and ransomed for 
two goats and four bark-cloths. Not understanding 
that Mariboo was the entire cause of such injustice, 
I ordered the guns of the Seedees to be filled with 
shot-sized pebbles instead of bullets ; but wo did not 
require to fire them. Even my men became as bad 



212 MAUCHING THROUGH BOOS. 

as the Waganda at this trade, their guns making them 
daring ; but it never came to my knowledge till it 
was too late. For instance, seeing one of Mariboo s 
boys lead two timid villagers to the grass hut occupied 
by my Seedees, I watched the result. A conversation 
ensued, the men afterwards passed me with two naked 
little girls with strings and tassels to their waists, 
looking dreadfully frightened. They had been stolen 
by my men, were the daughters of one of the two 
villagers, and had no doubt been recovered by paying 
bribes to Mariboo, his boy, and their captors. 

The streams and bogs crossed may be alluded ta 
All those going towards the Lake Victoria Nyanza 
were fordable, of white muddy water, rarely brown or 
mossy, having their bottoms and edges of black mud, 
the accumulations of decayed vegetable matter. Those 
which ran north and away from the lake, within two 
marches of the Uganda capital, had a hard firm footing 
of sand, with dry edges, and little or no mud. The 
difference was very marked, and pleasant to observe. 
The passage of these Uganda bogs is most trying. 
Imagine a flat valley, a mile across, looking like an 
osier-bed, but covered with the gigantic papjrus and 
reeds, &c. ; cut a narrow winding passage through it, 
leaving the roots in the water, and walk through this 
barefooted. The tears almost came into my eyes, the 
suffering from the sharp roots was so severe. Being 
carried was almost impossible, for even the natives, 
with the soles of their feet hard as leather, bearing 
their loads, dogs, spears, and shields on their heads, 
had enough to do to keep their footing. In my lame 
state, my feet, after having been covered with mud, 
came out of these bogs red and inflamed, too large to 



THE RIVERS >rWi:RANGO AND MOOGGA, 213 

wear shoes with comfort ; or where the valleys were 
free from the tall rushes, the chill of walking in such 
mire with a burning sun overhead was quite stupify- 
ing ; but, strange to say, none of us suflfered in health. 
The Mwerango, twenty miles west of the Uganda 
capital, was the first large body of water we foimd 
flowing towards Egypt. The centre part of the bridge 
over it had long since fallen into disrepair, and as the 
river was too deep for wading, we had to swim across 
about twenty yards of its width, which was from 300 
to 400 yards. You could not look up or down the 
stream, as the reeds hid everything ; neither could it 
be crossed anywhere but at this spot, or at other open- 
ings made in the bed of papyrus. In one hour our 
baggage was aU across, and every one was freshened 
by a bathe. This stream and a sister river, the Moogga 
Myanza, join and form the Kuffoo, which flows to 
Unyoro, joining the Nile to the north of Kamarasi's 
residence. Eegarding the rise of these two rivers there 
were various opinions among the Waganda. The 
Mwerango, they said, had its rise from rocks one day's 
journey to the S.S.W. of Namagoma. The other was 
honoured with a poetical tradition. It was named 
"Moogga,^' after one of the wives of the late king 
Soona. She, on becoming pregnant, was sent, for 
medical advice, to the S.E. of Namagoma. Accom- 
panying the birth of the child there was a flow of 
water, which has run ever since, and was christened 
" Moogga," after the queen 1 This river, or rather bed 
of rushes, was 500 yards across, and breast-deep. As 
we waded across it, on either side, within reach, the 
papyrus grew arching beautifully overhead. Its waters 
were clear, and sounded sweetly as they trickled 



214 POKING, THE GOVERNOR. 

through the rushes to our left, contrasting pleasantly 
with the bogs we had previously been crossing. When 
asked at Namagoma how long it would take to reach 
the source of the Mwerango, my friend Mariboo rephed 
figuratively by saying, " A pot of plantain would not 
be boiled by the time you returned from its source," 
meaning that it would take a very short time. 

As my caravan daily shortened its distance from 
the residence of the king, messengers came to inquire 
for me, where I was to sleep each night, and to huixy 
on, because the king had heard I was beautiful, and 
he could not eat till he had seen me ! These parties 
were sometimes commanded by boys of thirteen years 
of age — smart little fellows, who travelled very quickly 
over the country, never getting fatigued. If they met 
our caravan on the march, complimentary taps and 
rolls were sounded by their drummers, and returned 
by ours. It was not considered etiquette for any of 
their number to mingle with our baggage-party while 
moving along ; because, if anything should be missed, 
they might be made answerable for it. 

Pokino, the governor of a large territory, was one 
day announced while I was dressing. His name had 
been constantly quoted as an authority by Mariboo, 
and I had a strong desire to see him. On coming out 
of my hut, he sat surrounded by twenty Waganda in 
considerable state, and I could not help saying aloud, 
"Hallo! is this Pokino?" At once all grinned at 
the mention of the name ; no one moved from their 
seated positions, and my iron chair was placed outside 
the red cow-skin, on which he alone sat, — a deter- 
mined, sly-looking functionary, with a bad expression 
of mouth, and just the man to have an order obeyed. 



THE HABITATIONS OF THE WAG AND A. 215 

His dress was the ordinary one of the country, robing 
him in graceful folds of bark-cloth, salmon-coloured, 
which harmonised well with his dark complexion. 
Round his bare head he wore a wreath of creepers 
{Coccinia Indica)^ which made me inquire whetlicr 
his head ached. A laugh from him, and suppressed 
titter from his men at my ignorance, immediately 
foUowed, and he wished to see my pictures and luci- 
fer-matches ; of the former he preferred the buffalo's 
head, and one representing some slaves in chains; 
these amused him more than any of the others, and 
he soon took his departure, walking away slowly with 
considerable style, as if proud of his tall stout manly 
figure. 

The dwellings on this route were superior to any 
we had met with in Africa — loftier, better constructfMi, 
and more cleanly. Having command of immensr^ly 
tall reeds^ and beautiful grasses for thatching, with, in 
most places, tall spars^ they could readily make them- 
selves comfortable dwellings ; besides which, they ara a 
very neat-handed race. A M'ganda has a double roof of 
reeds to his house, like the two ^'flies^ in an Indian t^;nt 
The outer ''Ay" has a steeper slope than the under, 
and is covered to the ground with a thick thatr^h of 
long broad-bladed grass, a species of wild sugar-<5ane. 
This roofing appears when new white and clean from 
the inside, and is placed with perfect regularity, and 
supported by more poles than are generally rer|uis]t^;, 
as there are sacks of grain, dried flesh or fixh, Ac., t/> 
be slung from them. The interior is partition''^! off 
into front and rear compartment, Tjy means of high 
screens cf tiie plantain lea£ The better f:ham ^A 
lioiises hsve a raised bedi^^rad in the dark iut^^r, 



216 A MAUSOLEUM. 

which has but one door as an outlet for smoke, 
goats, and inhabitants. They also have their summer- 
houses, generally in a shady spot, where men meet to 
chat, smoke, and drink. It was amusing to see such 
comfort in these "barzahs," which only required a 
table, and to be seated round, to look like a remark- 
ably neat summer-house at home. Two huts on a 
height appeared devoted to the remains of the dead 
On getting over the fence surroimding them, a lawn 
having straight walks covered with gravel soil led up 
to the doors, where a screen of bark-cloth shut out the 
view of the interior. Conquering a feeling of delicacy, 
I entered one of the huts. I found a fixed bedstead of 
cane, curtained as if to shade its bed of grass fix)m the 
musquito, spears, charms, sticks with strange crooks, 
tree-creepers, miniature idol-huts of grass, &c. These 
were laid in order in the interior; but no one was 
there, and we were told it was a mausoleum. These, 
or similar places less pretentious, might be seen on the 
bare hill-sides; the latter merely square enclosures 
or fences of tall reeds, which my Waganda orderlies 
called " Looaleh," or sacred ground. Occasionally one 
of their men, to amuse us, went through a strange im- 
natural antic. Placing both elbows at his sides, with 
the hands pointing upwards, like a position in the 
dumb-bell exercise, he commenced glimmering with 
his eyes, writhing the muscles of his shoulders and 
back, never dra\ving breath, and gradually sinking to 
the ground till he apparently lay dead, as if he had 
worked himself into a trance, or sleep of death. 

Within a radius of thirty miles from the palace 
nothing is allowed to be plundered, as a number of 
government annuitants reside there. It was a great 



NEWS ABOUT UGANDA. 217 

pleasure to get amongst them to see order once more. 
Sheep, goats, and cattle were safe grazing at the road- 
side — not one of my escort dared touch them. It must 
have been very trying to them, for provision was 
scarce, and could not be purchased. We passed some 
small lakes, and the residence of the present king 
when he was a youth — all was now a wilderness, but 
pointed to with as great reverence as we should regard 
a sacred or historical spot. When within one march 
of the capital, Mariboo refused to convey me nearer 
" till an order came, because all travellers remained 
there a fortnight and more — it was the custom of the 
country ! " However, the detention was only for one 
day, and on the morning of the 26 th of May a dashing 
party of Seedees came with their usual joyful demon- 
strations, bearing a letter and a fore-quarter of goat 
from my friend Speke ! Cheering thought, to have 
him once more so near ! We now heard a great deal of 
news. First, " there was no food, only boiled plantain, 
in Uganda, and this could only be had by risking their 
lives! My arrival would be celebrated by a great 
deal of bloodshed. Captain Speke was a favourite 
with the king, because he was not, like the Arabs, 
particular about having the cattle or goats killed ac- 
cording to Mohammedan rites." This last bit of news 
led me to ask Frij whether all Mohammedans ate 
fish. His reply was, " They do not eat every fish — 
only those that have the finger and thumb mark of God 
making them lawful." They continued : " Baraka, 
who had been sent to the north with letters for the 
boats from Egypt, had been seen in Unyoro all safe, 
but its king would not allow him to come to join us 
vid Uganda. The ships were still at UganL The 



218 THE AMAZON SIMILAR TO UGANDA. 

Nile went to Misr (Egypt). The men and women 
killed daily by a blow on the back of the head are cut 
in pieces by knives made from the common reed ; the 
pieces are then put into a cloth, and tiirown to the 
birds ; Masoongo, the head executioner, reserving for 
himself all their hearts! Speke had saved the lives 
of four or five people. If a man is seen being led 
away with his hands tied in front, he is marked for 
execution — if they are tied behind, he is under sen- 
tence of a fine." 

We shall by-and-by see whether this gossip, brought 
me by the Seedees, had any truth in it And it may 
not be uninteresting to mention here, that at a private 
audience given me by his Holiness the Pope in 1864, 
when I submitted to him a map of our route, explain- 
ing the general configuration of the country upon the 
equator, he remarked with animation, that my de- 
scription tallied with what he had observed in the 
coimtry of the Amazon, where he had passed many 
years of his life as a missionary, — ^a fact I had not 
known before. The Amazon is in the same parallel of 
latitude as Uganda. 



CHAPTER X. 

UGANDA, MAY 27 TO JULY 7, 1862 — MEETING WITH CAPTAIN 
SPEKE — AUDIENCE WITH THE KING OF UGANDA — THE 
queen's drawing-room — THE DETECTIVE SYSTEM — THE 
EXECUTIONERS — STICK DRILL — INGENIOUS WORKMEN IN 
UGANDA — ^A STORM. 

The day of my axrival at the Uganda capital, the 
27th of May 1862, was one not only of intense joy, 
but deep thankfulness. I felt that my prayers for 
our safety had been heard. Speke and I had been 
separated for upwards of four months, and on being 
led by some of his men to the small hut he occupied, 
we were so happy to be together again, and had so 
much to say, that when the pages of the king burst 
in with the royal mandate that his Highness must see 
me "to-morrow,** we were indignant at the intrusion. 
The morrow, however, came, and with it the same sharp, 
intelligent boys, to say that my stool might be brought 
to sit upon in the presence of the king. Accordingly, 
the present of a gun and some ammunition having been 
graciously received by him, at three o'clock, dressed in 
my best suit — i. 6., white trousers, blue flannel coat, 
shepherd's-plaid shirt, a helmet, and a red turban — ^I 



220 MY FIBST INTERVIEW WITH m'tESSA. 

sallied forth with Speke and some Seedees to make 
the call. It may be mentioned, as a curious custom 
of the court at Uganda, that when I told Speke that I 
meant to wear knickerbockers at the levee, he warned 
me that I should not be considered " dressed " if any 
portion of my bare leg was left exposed. This cos- 
tume, because my stockings were not long enough, 
had therefore to be abandoned for white trousers. In 
proceeding to the palace we had to make one short 
descent, cross a bog, with grass thrown over it to keep 
the feet from being soiled, and rise on a broad road to 
the top of a hill, on which several hundred houses 
were built, each surrounded with a screen of tall 
reeds. The outer gate, having iron bells behind it, 
was slid aside, and we entered under a cord strung 
with charms. Here was a wide oblong space, screened 
all round ; one steep-roofed house, beautifully thatched, 
was the only dweUing visible. Inside its wide thresh- 
old sat a single figure; and on the open space in 
front a mob of bare-headed, weU-dressed Africans sat, 
forming a crescent, and facing " His Majesty M'tessa.'' 
Our approach was abruptly stopped, and we were 
directed to halt. Some minutes elapsed, the court 
broke up, and the mass of people ran quickly through 
a wicket that had been opened. We followed, but 
the doorkeeper closed the gate, and ten minutes 
elapsed ere we were admitted. We next entered a 
similar place, but smaller, and stood in the sun, un- 
comfortable enough, till permitted to be seated on 
our stools, with our hats off and umbrellas up. 
M'tessa sat upon a bench of grass, with a dog Iwhind 
him. His kamaraviona (commander-in-chief) was the 
only man allowed to sit at his feet; a sister and 



MY FIRST INTERVIEW WITH m'tESSA. 221 

several women were on Hs left, also seated on the 
ground under the shade of the lofty cane-and-grass 
building. His quick eye detected that part of my 
hand had been cut of. "How did this happen?" 
He no doubt fancied that some oflfence had been com- 
mitted by me, as it was the custom of his court to 
maim people by cutting oflf fingers, feet, or ears for 
even slight ofiences. He spoke in whispers to his pages, 
when Mariboo, the officer who had charge of me from 
Karague, informed him that I had received the wound 
in my hand in action ; he also told him of the diffi- 
culties he had in bringing me to his majesty. The 
people listened with the most perfect decorum, only 
once interrupted by a sudden arrest. Maulah, the 
chief " detective," observing some breach of etiquette 
— ^probably a man speaking above his breath — sud- 
denly seized the ofiender, and dragged him away. 
The look of anguish of the miserable creature thus 
apprehended was most painful. No one ventured to 
show sympathy; and Maulah soon returned alone, 
looking pleased and satisfied. 

Conversation is never interrupted by these scenes ; 
music from drums and other instruments drown any 
noise made by a poor prisoner, or it is continued to 
please the ears of those attending the levee. The 
mode of testifying allegiance was curious; the mob 
suddenly stood up en Tnasse, with their long sticks 
balanced in the air, and charged towards the threshold 
several times, with shouts of praise for their king, 
who made' no acknowledgment. The court broke up, 
after an hour, by the king walking away on tiptoe, 
with the most ludicrous swagger, through a screen 
leading into another enclosure. The doors were 



222 m'tESSA, the king of UGANDA. 

opened and shut by men, who watched every move- 
ment of the king, for fear they should be discovered 
off the alert, and pimished according to his caprice, 
A short time afterwards, a third scene was prepared 
for us. On entering the courtyard, M'tessa leant in 
a studied, affected attitude against the portico ; about 
two hundred women sat on the ground on one side, 
and we were told to bring our chairs to within twenty 
yards of him, facing the women. No men except our 
Seedee interpreters were present The remarks of the 
great potentate, w^ho regarded us with a kindly sur- 
prised air, were confined to his favourite women, and 
seemed to be concerning our appearance. After a 
time, the thought seemed to strike him that we all 
ought to remove to some more shaded place. This 
was the only sensible thing he had done. Making us 
draw our stools close to the iron chair on which he 
sat, the conversation turned upon sport, our expedi- 
tion, &c. A woman ran to fetch the gun he had that 
day been presented with; two others held spears 
beautifully polished. He signalled that I was to 
show my head imcovered to the ladies ; a titter fol- 
lowed, and all of us laughed heartily. Another signal, 
and I was told to place my hat on ; this made us all 
feel less restraint ; and the women were not afraid to 
return our smiles at the ridiculous formality of the 
scene. As the sim was approaching the horizon, this 
" drawing-room ** was ended by M'tessa walking away, 
leaving us to reflect on the strange events of the day. 
He was a tall, well-built young fellow, sprightly in 
manner, very vain, his woolly hair dressed with the 
greatest care; small head, remarkably prominent 
clever-looking clear eyes, good teeth, and long 



WOMEN SENT TO EXECUTION. 223 

nails to his hands and feet ; the instep of the latter 
was, as in most of the Waganda, highly arched, 
indicating a well-moulded sinewy leg. His bark- 
cloth " toga " had not a speck upon it, and was neatly 
knotted over the right shoulder, concealing his whole 
body. His ornaments of beads were made with great 
taste in the choice of colours ; the most minute beads 
of white, blue, and brown were made into rings and 
rosettes, which he wore round his neck and arms. 
Each finger had upon it a ring of brass ; on tiie third 
finger of the left hand he wore a gold ring, given him 
by Speke ; with these he played while sitting at his 
levees, occasionally receiving a golden-coloured gourd- 
cup of wine irom a maid of honour sitting by his 
side ; after each sip, a napkin of bark-cloth was used 
by him to wipe his moutL The only unseemly vul- 
garity he was guilty of while on his throne was to use 
his napkin to rub away the perspiration irom his per- 
son. On leaving the court, and getting outside the 
last gate of the palace, a woman's screams made us 
look back ; a cord was tied roimd her wrist, and a 
man dragged her, almost naked, down the hiU to 
be executed ; she screamed " N'yawoh 1 n^awoh ! " 
(Mother 1 mother!) in the most bitter anguisL A 
second, similarly tied, followed slowly, but not utter- 
ing a sound. A shudder of horror crept over me. 
Had we been the cause of this calamity ? and could 
the young prince with whom we had conversed so 
pleasantly have had the heart to order the poor 
women to be put to death ? 

The road to our hut was crowded by files of men 
dressed as " Neptunes," in tattered leaves of plantain, 
their limbs coloured with ashes and vermilion, and 



224 king's brothers in chains. 

girdles of long-haired goatskin (fix)in Usoga) hanging 
from their backs and waists. Daily these wild-looking 
creatures shouted and rushed wdth all their might 
along the roads, spears and shields being held high in 
the air ; they w^ere M'tessa's men preparing and drill- 
ing for a slave-hunting campaign. The day after my 
first visit to the king, he came to return the call 
without giving us any warning. We heard a noisy 
crowd passing outside our enclosure, and immediately, 
through the fence, came the young king in a tre- 
mendous hurry. He was not the puppet of yesterday, 
but dressed, like a negro sailor, in an open coat of 
bed-curtain chintz, loose white trousers or " pyjamas," 
having a broad stripe of scarlet; his feet and head 
were naked. He was shown into an iron chair, and 
seeing some books he turned over their pages as a 
monkey would ; asked to see the picture of Rumanika, 
and said he would like to know when his own portrait 
was to be done. His brothers, a mob of little raga- 
mufiins, several in handcuflfs, sat behind him chat- 
tering very familiarly, and tearing aU the while at 
sugar-cane. I was told to show them my hair by 
taking off my hat. We were asked if we did not 
admire the leather wideaw^ake made by one of the 
brothers? — and the vulture, the dove, and the horn-bill 
his highness had just shot ? This scene over, the king 
rose, ordered Speke to follow him, and, led by the 
mob of brothers, all rushed madly away. On follow- 
ing them, the chained lads, escorted by two servants, 
were very much in the rear, and hobbled along, poor 
little fellows, in perfect good-humour, looking as 
strong, healthy, and contented as any of the others. 
It was said that the king, before coming to the throne. 



INTERVIEW WITH THE MOTHER OF THE KING. 225 

always went about in irons, as his small brothers now 
do. Where could they have got this custom ? Wish- 
ing to know what had become of Speke, I went in 
search of him, and found on the way a flight of pages 
— ^there is no other name for it, as they always go at 
full speed, their robes flying, when serving the king. 
They were going vdth torches to light his highness 
home ; but they knew not what route he had taken. 
It afterwards appeared that he had entered a house to 
dine upon boiled beef and wine, a share of which he 
oflFered to Speke; then, taking a suit of clothes out 
of the tin box he had got from us, and which was 
carried to this picnic, he cast aside his torn and dirty 
suit for another, and went home by torchlight and 
drums. 

My introduction to the king's mother took place 
on the 1st of June. Captain Speke and myself 
went with five or six Seedees carrying pads of grass 
(stools not being permitted), with our gourds of 
pomb^, our sucking-reeds, and umbrellas. The dow- 
ager lady had been informed of our intention, but 
took her time as to seeing us. Walking over one hill 
to the top of another, in three-quarters of an hour we 
were at her royal highnesses gate. On getting as far 
as the second courtyard, we were told to wait, with 
the other visitors, in the drum or ante-house. Here 
for an hour we were left to smoke, drink, and doze. 
A musical instrument in the place was new to me — a 
harmonicon of twelve blocks of wood, which, on being 
struck, gave out notes as glasses do when played. 
They rested upon the trunks of plantain, and were 
isolated from each other by thin reeds. We took our 
hats off on approaching the old lady, who laughed 

p 



226 CONDESCENSION OF HER MAJESTY. 

most heartily, and welcomed us with great cordiality, 
telling us to sit in front of and near her. She seemed 
to me like a Tartar woman, being fair-skinned, stout, 
and short Her head was shaved, and had a cord tied 
round it. Conversation was kept up briskly for an 
hour or so, during which she fondled in her lap a 
plaything the size and shape of a hedgehog, studded 
with cowries and beads. She sipped at wine, looked 
at herself in a small mirror, smoked, and, like any 
housewife at home, gave orders to her domestics. 
Quantities of plantain neatly tied up and arranged 
in line, several basketfuls of boiled beef also tied 
round with leaves, were laid out as a present for 
Mariboo and myself. Each basket of beef was tasted 
by one of her officers tearing a bit away with his 
teeth, and we took our leave, very much pleased with 
her good-humour and homeliness. Many other calls 
were made upon her by invitation; but although we 
sat waiting the dowager for hours amongst steaming 
natives, she did not always give us an interview, saying 
she was too busy or too tired. Her brother, Katoon- 
zee, an officer of high rank, and with a most distingui 
Uganda air, pointing his toes and showing oflF his 
high instep as he walked, was treated with as much 
ceremony as ourselves, generally being obliged to sit so 
far distant from her that he had to bawl out to make 
himself heard. However, the dowager would allow 
him to whisper jokes into her ear, and be familiar 
enough when few were present Any wine intended 
for us her majesty always tasted before it was pre- 
sented. This was a condescension on her part not 
shown to every one. 

The people of Uganda require to have the pennis- 



SPEKES INFLUENCE AT COURT. 227 

sion of an officer before the barber can use his razor. 
The women seen about the queen's residence had no 
hair, neither had she ; all were shaved, and only a 
few in M'tessa's court were allowed to dress their 
hair in the same aristocratic fashion as the king. 
One of these women, in the bloom of youth, we one 
day saw led to execution. She was the fourth female 
victim that had passed that day. Her back was 
covered with scars, and blood appeared on her neck. 
She wept bitterly. Notwithstanding this circum- 
stance, when we went and had an interview with the 
king, we found him as gay and cheerful as ever. His 
detective Maulah lived next hut to ours, and the shrieks 
of poor people, night and day, were quite heartrend- 
ing. Not only were their cries heard, but each lash 
of the stick was distinct; and being in such close 
proximity to the place of torture was a severe trial. 
When Maulah captures women, they are asked, " Will 
you live with so and so ? '' if they object, the rod is 
applied, and consent in this way is forced upon 
thenL He and other chief officers were very jealous 
of Speke's influence with the king, for they knew he 
could at times obtain an interview, while they had to 
wait for daya On seeing us return from the palace, 
Maulah would inquire, " Have you seen the king ? '' 
and when we wished for an interview, and asked how 
it could be brought about, he would coarsely reply, 
'*Are you kings, that you always expect to be re- 
ceived ? " Certainly our influence had a most bene- 
ficial effect Not only did Speke save the lives of 
many, but men about court got him to intercede 
with the king on several occasions. The executioner 
Konzah had a favourite son, who was under sentence. 



-^^ 



228 THE KINGS LOVE FOB SPORT. 

The boy, through Speke's intercession, was pardoned, 
and it was thought he would never again be punished ; 
but on Bombay asking this high functionary " how 
the son was ; had anything more been said of it ? " the 
father replied, "My boy was killed yesterday for 
another oflfence." A child-page whom we took an 
interest in, and whom Speke had dressed up very 
gaily, named Loogohie (or cloth), got into a dreadful 
scrape one day for coughing w^hile the king was at 
dinner. It was thought his little ears would have 
been cut off, and he laughed very much when he found 
he had escaped, but he did not expect to live long, as 
he was always getting into hot water. On my asking 
what the king had killed when out shooting, Loogohie s 
reply was that, " As his highness could not get any 
game to shoot at, he shot down many people." 

The king had become so fond of the gun, that, like 
a young sportsman, he seemed to dream of it. In the 
early morning his gun or the rattle of the diminutive 
drums which always accompanied his movements was 
heard. Interviews were difficult; his w^hole time was 
occupied. He had received so many presents from 
us, he had made so many promises to open the road, 
and his pages had stolen for him so much of our 
ammunition, that he at last was ashamed of himself, 
and suddenly permitted us to leave. For several days 
neither of us could visit him, being unweU, but Bom- 
bay, by showing some pictures to his servants, conveyed 
such accounts of us that communication was some- 
times obtained. In a book he had received from 
Rumanika, 'Kaffir Laws,' his highness wished all 
the birds he had shot to be painted in imitation of 
our sketch-books. His pages pestered us, and became 



NO COINAGE IN THE COUNTRY. 229 

bold and insolent, walking into our hut, taking up 
anything they saw to examine it, or coming with the 
king's orders that our very beds, chairs, guns, shoes, 
&;e., were wanted by the king, and saying there must 
be no delay about sending them. The union -jack 
which we had got from Admiral Keppel was also de- 
manded. All these indignities, added to the brutal 
treatment of the women, made us feel that Uganda 
was not the "garden of pleasure '' we had heard it 
called, and that the conduct of the king was a worse 
form of plimdering than we had experienced in the 
Ugogo and southern territories. Here, by robbing us 
of our ammunition, they had placed us in a defence- 
less position; and though we did not want their 
offered hundreds of women and hundreds of cattle, it 
induced our Seedees to become mutinous, saying, "Al- 
though you don't take them, we will, for as yet we 
have received nothing but broken bones for the 2000 
dollars' worth of property given to M'tessa." They 
refused to march with us until they obtained sufficient 
ball-cartridge. This occurred just previous to our de- 
parture, up to which time our men had been gathering 
a precarious existence from what could be plundered 
from the gardens. 

No beads were allowed to be taken here by the na- 
tives, although privately they would always pur- 
chase sufficient provision for ourselves and men. 
Cowries were a more current coin, one hundred of 
these shells making one string = a bunch of a hundred 
plantain = the skin of a goat; and a single large gourd- 
ful of wine cost a sheet of bark-cloth. We fortunately 
received goats now and then from the king, and sweet 
potatoes from one of the gardeners in exchange for 



230 THE PUBUC EXECUnONEES. 

beads. There was no flour nor milk used in the coim- 
try, the natives living entirely upon plantain boiled, 
or made into wine, which they called "mVeng^," 
There was very little drunkenness visible. Cattle 
were rarely seen : the hills all round were such a mass 
of tall reeds and grasses that they could not penetrate 
them ; even a dog would have had difficulty in hunt- 
ing through these thickets. Pleasant walks were cut 
through them, and kept from being grown over by 
the constant transit of slave parties. Katoonzee re- 
turned from one of these during my stay at Uganda. 
He had captured 130 women, chiefly old, and only fit 
for weeding the fields. Some few, fitted for wives, 
stood apart, to be given away to men thought deserv- 
ing, or whose services were to be rewarded. Each 
woman of this class was worth three cows. An in- 
stance occurred of the king having given a single 
slave to one of his officers for some service performed, 
and the man being bold enough to ask for another, 
was cut to pieces with the usual reed knife. His 
limbs were carried away openly, while the trunk was 
wrapped in a cloth. There were several executioners, 
men of rank, who were the privy councillors of the 
king. These men had numbers of followers, dis- 
tinguished by wearing their mark of office — ^a short 
turban of cord-and sometimes carrying a peculiarly- 
shaped bludgeon. Konzah has been mentioned; an- 
other, named Oozoongoo, was always carried to court 
in a litter, being an invalid. On meeting him, he 
would stop to speak, and in expression had nothing 
repulsive; but when seen with a wreath of black 
fringe encircling his head, hiding his eyes, and hang- 
ing down to near lus mouth, his appearance was com- 



STICK PARADE. 231 

pletely changed, and he reminded one of a black 
Highland buU looking fiercely through his forelock 
Both these executioners were really polite men, 
alwajrs frank when met at the palace — much more so 
than the kamaraviona (commander-in-chief), who was 
a proud, haughty young fellow. One day I had the 
curiosity to follow a poor woman who was led by a 
boy to be killed. She carried a smaU hoe, balanced 
upon her head. No one told me she was under sen- 
tence, but the cord on the wrist was sufficient ; and 
after travelling for half a mile, I followed her down to 
the executioner's gardens. Waiting outside for some 
time, not a sound was heard, nor a person seen. A 
lazy, yellow-beaked vulture, the cannibal of Uganda, 
sat perched on the stump of a broken tree; others 
hovered high overhead, looking on the scene below. 
This circumstantial evidence was enough for me, and 
I returned. 

One of the sights at the capital of Uganda was to 
watch the crowds of men on the highroad leading to 
the palace ; all were under officers, perhaps a hundred 
in one party. If wood is carried into the palace up 
the hill, it must be done as neatly as a regiment per- 
forms a manoeuvre on parade, and with the same 
precision. After the logs are carried a certain distance, 
the men charge up hill, with walking-sticks at the 
" slope,'' to the sound of the drum, shouting and chorus- 
sing. On reaching their officer, they drop on their 
knees to salute, by saying repeatedly in one voice the 
word " n'yans " (thanks). Then they go back, charg- 
ing down hill, stooping simultaneously to pick up the 
wood, till, step by step — ^it taking several hours — ^the 
neatly-cut logs are regularly stacked in the palace 



232 YOUNG GIRLS PRESENTED TO THE KING. 

yards. Each officer of a district would seem to have 
a diflferent mode of drill. The Wazeewah, with long 
sticks, were remarkably well disciplined, shouting and 
marching all in regular time, every club going through 
the same movement, the most attractive part of the 
drill being when all crouched simultaneously, and then 
advanced in open ranks, swinging their bodies to the 
roll of their drums. 

At every new moon M'tessa went through an exami- 
nation of his idol horns ; but I should not suppose 
him to be much of an augur : he was too light-headed 
and fond of field-sports, of boating, swimming, and 
music, to give much attention to making rain, &c. 
He left all these things to the Witchwezee race who 
were about him, and seldom denied himself to visitors 
at the time of new moon. On the very day that four 
of his women were going to execution, at an audience 
given to ourselves and in our presence, some maidens 
were offered for his harem. He had detained us in 
an outer court for a long time, and probably brought 
us in to enjoy our surprise at the poor naked offerings. 
Each held by the upper comers an open napkin in 
front of her, and all were smeared with grease and 
decorated with girdles and necklaces of beads. After 
being reviewed without a smile, they were told to face 
to the right, and march to the "zenana." As was 
customary, the king then sat on the knees of the 
matron-like woman who had presented the maidens, 
and, having ordered all away but ourselves, the inter- 
preters, and some young lads, a conversation began 
about men and women in general. It is, however, 
worthy of remark, that M'tessa never behaved in- 
decently by word or deed while women were present ; 



THE DRESS OF THE WAGANDA. 233 

his language was uniformly correct On his com- 
plaining of sickness, medicine was brought him by a 
page, one of our men haidng first to taste it. In all 
probability the page was made to swallow the pill 
instead of the king ! He and all his people were less 
suspicious of us than of any traders; our presents 
were received without the usual form of preparation ; 
whereas, when Dr Kiengo, the native of Unyamuezi, 
gave his offering of five giraffe tails, a mould of Kittara 
copper, &c., all were dipped into plantain wine or 
" m'wengd,'' which had to be drunk by the Doctor to 
show there was no impurity connected with the pre- 
sents. A pUl, having great virtues, was licked all 
over for the same reason by Kiengo. 

The, ingenuity of the Waganda in imitating our 
chairs, mode of walking, dress, gun-covers, &c., was 
very striking. Having seen so many of our pictures, 
they at last took to drawing figures of men in black 
upon their bark-cloths. 

At light work they are highly ingenious. Their 
spears, knives, drums, shields, ornaments, houses, &c., 
are made with great taste and exactness. Their bark- 
cloths are cut from several varieties of ficus, beaten 
upon a log with a mill-headed wooden hammer, and 
sewn beautifully together into large shawls, ranging 
in uniform tint from salmon-colour or maize to a brick 
red. These are very becoming on an African skin, 
and when worn by our Seedees as a turban, the hai- 
mony of colour was pleasing. Our men in Uganda 
could not be distinguished at a distance from the 
natives; for their Zanzibar clothes being worn out, 
they dressed like them in bark-cloths, or the skins of 
cattle and antelope prepared by leaving on the hair. 



234 THE FOOD AND CLIMATE OF UGANDA. 

The skins of small antelope, made white and soft as 
kid, are put together so well that the sewing with 
banana or aloe fibre is scarcely observed. They have 
not attained the art of the brazier. The habits of the 
people are so simple, that the firesh green leaf of the 
banana serves them as a plate. Wine they drink out 
of a comer of their cow-skin coverings ; shoes, hats^ 
and gloves they have not yet obtained ; and a strip 
fix)m a reed is their knife, as we have often seen when 
the palace guards were at their excellent meal of good 
boUed beef, mafihed plantain, and wine. Their dinner 
was a strange j?ood-humoured scramble, the strongest 
keeping mL Lm tiie weakest by snatehing it a^ay 
or tossing it about They are excellent cooks, cutting 
butcher-meat up into very neat joints, wrapping them 
with fresh plantain leaves, and boiling all in a large 
earthen pot full of plantain, to which, by this process, 
a rich flavour is added. Our Seedees missed many 
a good dinner by not partaking of this fare, on 
account of their profession as Mussulmans. They 
could not eat plantain that had been boiled with 
unlawful meat 

Lightning was said to be very much dreaded at 
Uganda, but no cases of death occurred from it during 
our stay. One of the king's houses was burnt down, 
the accident causing a great commotion, because on 
the occurrence of such a calamity it is every one's 
duty to render aid. We did not call that day (the 
30th June), because an interview would have been 
impossible. The storm had commenced by rain at 
1 P.M. ; during a lull we had thunder, lightning, and 
hail ; by 5 p.m. all had cleared away, and .82 inch 
of rain had fallen. During June, misty showers fell 



THE CLIMATE OF UGANDA- 235 

almost every day, but not enough to measure in a 
rain-gauge. The valleys were veiled every morning 
by a dense fog, and very often we had no sun the 
whole day. The heaviest shower noted was in the 
following month of July (4th), when 1.04 inches were 
measured 



CHAPTER XL 



UGANDA TO UNYORO CAPITAL, 7TH JULY TILL 9TH SEPTEMBER 
1862 — FIRST STAGE, CAMPS UNITED, UGANDA TO KAREE — ^THE 
CATTLE AND SPORT OF THE COUNTRY — ONE OF THE SEEDEES 
KILLFJD BY THE NATIVES — BUDJA, THE CHIEF NATIVE OFH- 
CER — MUSICAL INSTRL^ENTS — CAPTAIN SPEKE PROCEEDS 
TO THE LAKE NYANZA — ANTELOPE-SHOOTING — DIFFICLT-TIES 
IN THE WAY OF THE AUTHOR'S ADVANCE — SPEKE RETURNS, 
AND THE CAMPS ARE UNITED— ELEPHANT -HLTh'T IN UN- 
YORO. 

Although the distance from Uganda to Unyoro by 
a direct route was reported not much above eighty 
miles, we were not confident of the fact. The marches 
given by the natives can seldom be depended upon. 
A M'ganda without a load will march the whole 
day, stopping at every hut w^here he can get any- 
thing to eat or drink. A laden Seedee thinks six 
miles, or even less, a day's work. How, therefore, 
could we anticipate that Unyoro was so near to us as 
eighty miles ? The journey may be divided into three 
sections : the first, from Uganda to Karee, when 
Speke and I travelled together; the second, when 
Speke tried the water route and I the land ; the third. 



WE MAllCH TOWARDS UXYORO. 237 

when we joined our forces and marched into Unyoro 
headquarters. 

I. Uganda to Karee, four marches; camps 

UNITED. 

The country at first was hilly. As we proceeded 
north, it gradually assumed the appearance of parks 
and grazing grounds, dotted with trees and clumps of 
bushes, favourable for stalking. Water was abundant 
in the sandy-bottomed streams and miry swamps. 
With this change of outline, we had no longer the 
gigantic reed of Uganda ; it was replaced by a waving 
grass three feet high. The trees were small, the same 
as those species met with 5** south of the equator. 
Scarcely one-tenth part of the route was under culti- 
vation. Plantain groves were more abundant than 
fields of sessamum and Indian com ; and in the houses 
we occupied, bundles of seeroko and jooggo (a pulse 
and bean) were found. It was a disagreeable march 
in one respect ; for as soon as our caravan halted at a 
grove, the cultivators fled, and when we entered their 
houses we found the fire burning, with earthen pots, 
grain, and vegetables, and their beds and bark-cloth 
bedding undisturbed. All the etceteras about their 
snug little domiciles lay at the mercy of our men. 
Knives, shields, shells, beads, skins, pipes, tobacco, &c., 
hung from the roof, or were stuck into the rafters ; 
and, on our leaving, it was not a rare occurrence to 
find that our men had ruthlessly burnt some of the 
supports of the hut to make themselves a fire to 
cook their food. This they would do most wantonly, 
although they had the best of the country, paying no- 
thing for the plundered goats and other property per- 



238 THE CATTLE OF THE COUNTRY. 

mitted to be taken by IMPtessa. The dwellings were 
not different from those already described, but each 
had over ite doorway a diamond-shaped charm of rush, 
hung horizontally, and generally stuck with feathers. 
The cattle seen in the low grazing country were 
almost " prize ^ animala They were made hornless 
when young — ^not by sawing off the horns of grown- 
up animals, as stiU barbarously practised in Scothmd, 
but by searing with a hot iron. They were most 
docile, handsome creatures. The general colour was 
grey, their faces and inside the ears black ; they had 
little or no hump, and were larger in bulk than an 
A3n:shire cow. The cowherds were the lanky Wa- 
huma, called here Waheema, who might be seen 
tending herds of several hundreds at a time. These 
people were never afraid to come out and look at 
our caravan, even when it passed their ring fences 
in a secluded tract of country several nules away 
from any cultivation. The Waganda, on the con- 
trary, on meeting us, would fly off the road, leaving 
whatever they might be carrying to be plundered by 
our followers. This difference in the two races is ac- 
counted for by the Wahimia never being made slaves, 
although their women are very much prized for their 
beauty as wives. M'tessa had given orders that we 
and our escort were to receive sixty cattle and ten 
loads of butter. Half-a-dozen cattle were first brought 
as an offering. Those made over to our Waganda dis- 
appeared the first night, and as ours, having been tied 
up, were all safe, we were called magicians. When 
the number was completed, our share was marked by 
squaring their tails, so as to distinguish them from 
those taken by the Waganda. During the night they 



TRAPS FOR LIONS. 239 

were placed within a fence made to surround the only 
door of a hut occupied by a M'nyamuezee, Manua, 
who constituted himself their guardian. On receiving 
an order to slaughter one, our table-knives were called 
into requisition because the common country knife 
had no guard to it, and was not considered lawful. 
The Seedees, though knowing nothing of the Moham- 
medan religion, the majority not being circumcised, 
were much more particular on those occasions, and 
oflFered more opinions than a "moulvie,'* or Mussul- 
man priest, would. **The animal must lie feeing a 
proper direction ;" "a certain man must officiate,^' &c. 
The tracks of elephants and buffalo were numerous, 
but none of the animals were seen ; neither did we 
shoot any lions, but we heard them at night. It was 
not a roar, neither was it the sound a lion makes in a 
menagerie; at the time I considered it to be no more 
alarming, even to a novice, than if one were to blow 
through a coVs horn. Two zebra were shot by Speke, 
and eaten by the Waganda escort, and the skins, being 
the property of royalty, were simply left in a hut, the 
proprietor of which was bound to have them conveyed 
to the palace. Pallah, hartebeest, and other antelope 
were seen or shot, and might have been hunted on 
horseback at certain seasons. The n'jezza, whose 
horns curved over the brow, was new to ua None of 
these 3tniTnn.lR were ever seen in herds; a dozen to- 
gether would be considered a large number. As it was 
also a great cattle country, the natives tried to trap 
the lion by means of a number of logs raised high on 
end. When the animal came under them for the bait 
of a live goat, all the logs, guided by piles on either 
side, fell in a mass, crushing him, somewhat after the 



240 INGENIOUS FOOT-TRAP. 

fashion of the triangle of sticks and stones adopted in 
the Himalayas to kill tigers, leopards, or bears. Never 
having seen the contrivance in this form, my curiosity 
was raised to enter ; luckily some Seedees called out 
in time to tell me of my danger. Three of our cows 
were less fortunate ; one was killed, becoming food for 
our Waganda escort, because the Seedees would not 
touch it, and two were dragged from under the logs 
much bruised. The natives were eager sportsmen, 
netting the smallest or largest antelope, which they ate 
or conveyed alive to their king. Nets were made of 
beautiful soft and strong fibre, from the aloe generally. 

A most simple, ingenious foot-trap for wild buflFalo 
we observed here for the first time. It was set gener- 
ally at salt-licks, where these animals were known to 
scratch the ground, and consisted of two small circles 
of wood, placed immediately one over the other ; be- 
tween them a quantity of stout acacia thorns pointed 
to a common centre ; all were lashed strongly toge- 
ther, and the trap, when completed, was several inches 
larger than a buffalo's foot This was fitted over a 
hole made in the ground, and a noose (attached to a 
block of wood) laid over it, and concealed with earth. 
On the bufialo putting his foot upon it, the trap fastens, 
and the more he struggles the tighter the noose be- 
comes. The former king of Uganda was said to have 
kept a large menagerie of animals caught in this way. 

Birds were not numerous ; the cannibal vulture of 
Uganda, now that we had left the capital, was a rare 
bird. Guinea-fowl and florikan were the only game- 
birds observed, the grass being too tall to discover 
partridge, &c. An owl of very handsome plumage, 
weighing six pounds, was shot A graceful bird on 



FIRE IN CAMP. 241 

the wing — a new goatsucker — ^with a single feather of 
each wing twice his own length, and since named 
Cosmetomis Spekii, skimmed amongst the plantain 
trees at night These long feathers probably sweep 
up flies as they float behind him. 

Fish were not to be had on this route, although 
cruives or basket -traps, the shape of an Eg3rptian 
water -jar, and made of flags or papyrus, were con- 
stantly found in the houses of the people. The way 
of placing them was as follows : — Two long parallel 
ditches, six feet apart, were cut in a swamp ; here and 
there their waters were made to communicate. At 
these points the baskets were laid on their sides, and 
the fish driven into them, whence there was no escape. 

While detained at Karee receiving a portion of the 
cattle ordered to be given us by the king, we had 
several exhibitions of the temper of the people. As 
was customary, we took possession of their houses, and 
dwelt in them for eight days. This so exasperated 
them, that, on our Seedees going to fetch water, or 
leaving camp, they were threatened; a spear was 
thrown, and one of our men, named Karee, was killed. 
No redress could be obtained till the king had been 
conmiunicated with. His reply was, "Allow it to 
pass over for the present, and when the villagers have 
returned to their houses I will send a party to seize 
them all." The night previous to our leaving, two 
huts occupied by Seedees were set on fire — the natives 
throwing in a bunch of burning straw at the doorway. 
Egress through the flames was impossible ; but, having 
secured their guns, they cut their way through the 
side of the hut, losing a bayonet and their bark-cloths. 
Precautions were taken against any further alarm; 

Q 



242 THE ARMS OF THE WAGANDA. 

and, on leaving in the morning, after they had fired 
the hut, our Waganda escort took a delight in burn- 
ing down all the houses they had occupied. The 
spear that had been thrown at our men was brought 
in as a trophy; its handle was 7 feet long, having a 
blade of 16 inches. This is the size of the common 
Waganda spear; and one wonders that they ever 
throw it, as you can always see it coming, and get out 
of its way. With guns unloaded, no ordinary Seedee 
would have a chance with a M'ganda, his move- 
ments through the tall grass are so rapid. Our men 
got to know this after the death of poor Karee, who 
had been the spokesman of the camp. He was a 
tailor by trade, and had made several suits, after 
English and Arab patterns, for the king, who never 
paid him his bill — ^namely, four cows. His body was 
buried by moonlight, in a grave dug with bayonets, — 
the men remarking that they never saw such a march 
as ours was, we did not even carry a hoe. The truth 
was, they had lost or thrown away all our pioneer 
implements. The men were very crestfallen on the 
night of this death, the younger Seedees being afraid 
to carry the body, and the older remarking, "Suffr 
maqueesha," ** Oh, the march is now done for.^' 

The villagers had a dread of keeping anything left 
behind by our men. An old bit of calico was brought 
us by a woman, accompanied by two servant-girls 
carrying m'wengd and plantain for us. She sympa- 
thised in our loss of Karee, and, having accepted a 
present of beads, thanked us in the most gentle way 
by moving her hands and slowly repeating in a soft 
low tone the word " n'yans," thanks. Her attendants 
then fell upon their knees, and bashfully, with down- 



NATIVE TOBACCO. 243 

cast eyes, went through the same form of acknowledg- 
ment. Another instance of the honesty of the people 
may be mentioned. Manna, the cowherd, wished to 
return to the last camp for a cloth he had forgotten. 
On telling him that it would be brought to him, he 
hesitated, but the wild strains of a tambira were 
heard approaching the camp, and the rag was pro- 
duced by the party, along with a gourd of wine for 
the Mazoongoo. In this case the instrument was 
played as a token of truce, to show that the arrivals 
were friendly. On the other hand, the natives often be- 
trayed fear. K a few huts were passed by us while out 
shooting, first the children, then the women, and after- 
wards the men, armed, would fly from their houses, 
and conceal themselves in the plantain groves. This 
order was invariably observed — the children were the 
first care of the parents. Once, on calling to some 
men running away, a single man came up and sat by 
us ; others became equally bold, and did so also, till a 
mob gathered round us, and the women returned to 
their several vocations in and out of the houses. To 
test their hospitality, I asked for as much tobacco as 
would fill my pipe. A handful was given me with 
the greatest readiness. It was like the coarsest- 
grained black tea in appearance and consistence ; and, 
after obtaining information about the game to be pro- 
cured in the country, we parted excellent friends — so 
much so that the day following they paid me a visit 
at my hut, and brought me some more tobacco, for 
which they received a present of beads. 

Budja, the chief officer or M'koongoo, whom the 
king had sent in charge to deliver us over to the king 
of Unyoro, was a very handsome, intelligent man, 



244 BUDJA, A king's OFFICEIL 

clean in his dress, and never sitting down unless a 
carpet of cowskin was laid for him by one of his 
attendant boys. Like all his race, he was impetuous ; 
if sent for, he would come leisurely with the haughty 
airs of M'tessa, sit for a moment, pretend to listen to 
what was said, and before any business about the 
march could be negotiated, would rise abruptly, mak- 
ing some silly excuse, that the cattle must be looked 
after, &c., and then disappear. He travelled with 
three wives — tall, fair women — and about twenty 
young lads, who anticipated Ids every wish. One 
amongst them always looked after the ladies, whether 
on the march or in camp ; another had both ears and 
fingers cut off for adultery. These men without ears 
had a very curious appearance — one old man in par- 
ticular, his head looking like a barber's block, with 
black holes bored in it ; not a fragment of the external 
ear was left. Whether the operation ultimately affected 
their hearing we could not ascertain, but apparently 
it did not; they had the sharp look of pug dogs. 
As Budja and party will accompany me into Unyoro 
while Speke goes to look at the exit of the Nile £ix)ni 
the lake, his name will appear often in this ch^ter. 
He was a great authority on the road, being the 
mediator between the kings of Uganda and Unyoro. 
On asking him what relation a certain man was to the 
queen-dowager of Uganda, he replied by placing his 
left hand on his own right shoulder, thereby signifying 
that they were full brother and sister. I had never 
before seen any race that adopted this mode of ex- 
pression, and it would imply that they, like ourselves, 
think the right hand of more importance than the left, 
Budja, however, could use either hand equally well. 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 245 

On his arm he carried a reed-whistle three inches long, 
but it seemed to be more for ornament than use. 

In Uganda were both wind and stringed musical 
instruments, and the natives excelled in whatever they 
attempted. Night and day, in the palace precincts, 
the sound of drums was he<ard from the hill-sides. 
Every officer who commanded fifty men was allowed 
a kettle-drum. These were neatly made of wood, and 
when carried were slung on the back by shoulder- 
straps ; the short drumsticks were stuck in loops out- 
side, and a loose cover protected them from sun and 
rain. Each party of men had its regimental drum- 
call. Budja's was a certain number of taps in quick 
time, which we all soon got to distinguish from any 
other. But none sounded such a loud t^nor " doogoo, 
doogoo, doogoo," as the king's small drums when he 
was out for the day. They were beaten so as to make 
the sounds swell from double piano to forte, and vice 
versa. At all levees bands of reed and bugle players 
attended, and also danced. The reeds, held like 
flageolets, were never without decorations of blue, 
white, and scarlet beads, with hair at their lower ends, 
and they sounded sweet and pleasing. Sometimes an 
enormous kettle-drum, slung over a stout Waganda's 
neck and shoulder, was allowed to join the wind in- 
struments. It was profusely decorated with shells, 
beads, brass bells, bouquets of long goat's hair, &c., 
and beaten by single taps, the drummer throwing back 
his head and body, and giving a deep long " Bah ! " 
after each tap. The harmonicon has been mentioned, 
also the stringed "nanga" or tambira, their most 
elegant instrument, looking, while laid in the lap to be 
played, like a harp in miniature. The queen generally 



246 OUR CAMPS DIVIDE. 

had a blind musician perfonning on the harp, and the 
king was most expert at all these instruments, sitting 
for hours playing or listening to others. There was 
not much singing among the Waganda, though a 
great deal of instrumental music. During the march 
they sang in a quivering voice, slurring the notes and 
words in an odd manner, only heard in Uganda. They 
could all whistle through their fingers, and snapped 
them curiously when wanting to speak with emphasis. 
On parting with M'tessa, he gave rather indefinite 
orders to Budja, who was in charge of our march, to 
take us to the exit of the Nile firom Victoria Nyanza, 
nearly east of his residence. This route was not ad- 
hered to by Budja, and for four days, in the most 
obstinate manner, he led us more north than east 
Having got so far out of the line, it became a question 
whether it was really of importance to visit this point 
Speke did not see any great advantage in it, and many 
would have been of the same opinion, because we had 
seen the lake daily from above our quarters at Uganda, 
and knew, from all accounts, that after making a few 
more miles we should come upon an immense river, 
with which we were now running parallel. However, 
in order to avoid any reproach or charge of indifierence 
at home, we resolved — Budja being overruled — to see 
the river issue from the lake, and thus leave nothing 
undone. Speke asked me whether I was able to make 
a flying march of it along with him, while the baggage 
might be sent on towards Unyoro. At that time I 
was positively unable to walk twenty miles a-day, espe- 
cially miles of Uganda marching, through bogs and 
over rough ground. I therefore yielded reluctantly 
to the necessity of our parting ; and I am anxious to 



OUR CAMPS DIVIDE. 247 

be explicit on this point, as some have hastily inferred 
that my companion did not wish me to share in the 
gratification of seeing the river. Nothing could be 
more contrary to fact. My state of health alone pre- 
vented me from accompanying Speke to set at rest 
for geographers the latitude of the interesting locality, 
as to which we were perfectly satisfied from native 
report 

IL Camps separated, from July 1 9 till August 
19. 

On the 1 9th July Speke left with a light equipment 
for what he afterwards named the "Eipon Falls," 
where the Victoria Nyanza discharges itself to form 
the main waters of the White Nile. He intended to 
have joined me at the headquarters of Unyoro by pro- 
ceeding there by boat, but was repulsed in the attempt 
Budja, the majority of the Seedees, the baggage, and 
myself, struck away in the opposite direction towards 
the capital of Unyoro. The chief incidents of the 
first few days' marching have been embodied in the 
previous part of this chapter. But I will now, to vary 
the narrative, give the events as they occurred daily 
during Speke's absence. 

22d July. — Marched N.N.W. through nothing but 
meadows of tall grass from 7.30 till 10 a.m., seven 
miles — from cultivation to cultivation. Rain during 
the night The district is in charge of the queen of 
Uganda's brother. During the march a large black 
animal, looking back at us, glancing in the side way 
that an elephant does, ran fearlessly past some huts 
occupied by Wahimia in charge of cattle. No one 
turned out to give chase or showed much alarm ; on 



248 CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN CAMP. 

this account I fancied that elephants are not uncom- 
mon* in these parts. Manua, who has charge of our 
cattle, came crying, and bleeding fix)m a jagged cut on 
the back of his head. A Seedee, twice his size, had 
struck him with a bludgeon for refusing to give up his 
hut. The offender, who generally was well-behaved, 
expressed great penitence. The truth of the stoiy 
could not be arrived at; and after threatening the 
Seedee with confinement in irons (which we hadn't), 
all seemed satisfied except Manua, who could not 
brook the insult of having been taunted for being 
" only an Unyamuezi." Blubbering most bitterly, he 
said, " It is not the wound that pains me, but here, 
here,'' violently beating his heart. Poor little fellow ! 
he felt his honour at stake, and swore he would take 
the other's life ; but nothing further occurred. 

We were to receive the remainder of our present 
of cows from M'tessa at this ground, which is on the 
borders of Uganda. Some cows are brought, but 
Budja pronounces them no better than goat. A par- 
ticular favourite of mine, Ooreymengo, the goat-boy, 
reported ha\'ing seen a herd of Waganda villagers 
sweep away all our goats. I ordered an armed party 
of men to proceed in pursuit. Half an hour after- 
wards our goats were discovered grazing close by 
camp ; no one had stolen them — the boy had invented 
the story because he could not find them ! He was 
sentenced to receive twenty lashes, having lost three 
goats for us some time before. On his hearing my 
order, he exclaimed, " I don't want to be flogged ;" but 
Mabruk tied him to a tree and gave it him well with 
a long switch. On asking the latter, whose duty it 
also was to keep count of the cattle, how many cows 



WAGANDA MODE OF COOKING. 249 

were now left, lie took a lialf-ineli rope which he wore 
on his head as a turban, and told me to count the 
knots upon it ; " Chumsa-thillatheen " — 35 — all right. 

23d, — Halt. Budja, on seeing the baggage packed 
for a march, says that if I go without receiving the 
complement of cattle, his king will kill him for not 
obeying orders. One of the women of camp being 
unwell, this is also brought forward as an excuse for 
halting. The district officer pays me a pleasant visit, 
and afterwards sends a gourd full of m Vengd. Went 
shooting from 9 till 12, wading up to the knees 
through bogs after elephant or buffiilo (Bogo) : plenty 
of their spoor, and several large game-traps were seen 
— also fish-cruives set ; but nothing was bagged. We 
had a cow killed to-day. Although all its "joints " 
were at my disposal, the Seedees cut them so small, 
and into such cross-grained-looking pieces, that when 
served up they were very umnviting ; there was no 
cai-ving them, because the meat was cut up while 
warm. The Waganda, on the contrary, cut as neat 
joints as we do at home, the Seedees calling their cook- 
ing " Kissoongoo," or " h, T Anglais," meaning that solid 
joints are always cut. When boiled they are surrounded 
by plantain leaf ; a layer of peeled plantain is put in 
a bundle at the top, and all placed in an open earthen 
pot, w^hich is covered with leaves as a lid. I took to 
this cookery, and found it answered admirably. 

2ith, A.M. — Halt. Cattle not yet arrived. Chief 
officer presents another gourd of wine. Thunder, 
lightning, and heavy rain about noon. Leopard and 
lion must be common about here, as one of the former 
was seen by our men while fetching water, and there 
are three lion-traps (of logs) within a short distance. 



250 DIFFICULTIES IN MARCmNG. 

The dogs kept by the Waganda rarely run loose after 
their masters ; they are tied to the elbow, hand, or 
toe (when seated) with a cord, which cannot be bitten 
through, as a stick is generally attached. If they 
have to run through grass, however long, even with a 
basket of chickens swinging at their backs, the poor 
dog is dragged after them in the most ludicrous way. 
The breed would be shot down in England, but here 
they value them very much, castrating them as at 
Karague. Our goatherd was oflFered 250 cowries for 
a playful dog he had picked up, but refused every 
offer under 300 1 

Some cattle arrived by 3 p.m., and a march was 
ordered ; but Budja said, " There are no habitations ; 
nothing ahead but jungle full of lion ! We will march 
early to-morrow." A meeting took place to discover 
who had stolen some property at our last ground; 
until this is settled, I am told, we do not move from 
here. My men quarrel with Budja about the unfair 
distribution of the cattle ; we were given not only all 
the bad ones, but were short of our number. 

25th. — By daylight I had everything ready-packed 
for a march, to avoid disputes about the cattle. Budja 
came saying we could not march till evening : the 
cows must be looked after. " We must go now,'' said 
I. An hour passes, then I am told we cannot move, 
as the men have just commenced cooking. A second 
hour, and Budja's drum will sound the advance. It 
now looks cloudy, and a M ganda comes to say, " After 
the shower we will move off." Not being able to stand 
this any longer, I walked off hastily to Budja s little 
camp, got a guide, and we all marched together for 
five miles ; they refused to go farther, camping in a 



SPORTING COUNTRY — VNYORO, L\M 

grove, fenced round to protect it from wild uininuls. 
By noon I was shooting in a swiunpy meadow of tall 
grass, and succeeded in bagging a beautiful red buck, 
the " n'soono " or leucotis, which we christened aftt»r- 
wards the " noble buck." Plodding through tlie deep 
water, full of a network of grasses was uncomforUdilt^ ; 
the wounded game was lost, and no other Hpecies cH>ulil 
be seen. The proprietor of the house I put up in 
came timidly to get out his large game-ncU| in order 
to save them from being injured by my nuxn. AlK)ut 
his house were the spoils of eland and " ])h()ngo " or 
bush-boc ; so that this is a sporting countiy. 

26th. — Marched nine miles, getting into IJnyoro 
territory immediately after leaving csamj). Nothing 
marked the boundary between Uganda and IJnyoro. 
The country rolled in waves, had many pretty giiuiitM, 
and was covered with tall grass and treciH. At tli<i 
fourth mile an arch of boughs was thrown a<;roHH i\ui 
path, seemingly the work of the previous (hiy. My 
Waganda did not pass under it for mma unknown 
reason, probably because they Hus|>cx;ted trear:hery on 
the part of their bitte-r enemies, the |MMjple of Unyoro; 
but nearly all the Sec^lees and mysf^lf did, an we UM)k 
it for the Unyamuezi sign that dwellings and waU^r 
were not hi distant 

At yesterday s camp a native fell u[x>n lii^ kn^;'^ to 
Budja, and presented him with the lid of a tin f'jihh>Uir, 
and a rag of cloth which my uxfm lixi/1 \9\ir\t^fiiA:\y 
thrown awav. Thiij wai> the third iniftan^>; of th'rir 
remndng things through fr^ar of their king M'te««i, 
Being now in the kingdom of L'nyoro, it wa;* ^>//i- 
E2d<ered neoessan' to halt here, and h^^nd ^rto^t twsSi J/j 
^Thiast, w obtain y^ruihsiaou to proee^i funL^^r. 



252 WE ARE CONSIDERED CANNIBALS. 

Two Seedees quarrelled, and fought with sticks for 
the heart of the cow just killed. I tried to separate 
them, but made matters worse, as the whole camp 
took up the quarrel. My side won; and the two 
were placed in diflFerent huts, but unfortunately not 
sufficiently apart to prevent their abusing each other. 
The result was, that they challenged each other to 
fight it out alone in the forest with sticks ; and I 
saw the silly creatures march away with a bludgeon 
each to have their round out. No one followed, and 
no damage was done. 

27th. — Halt. Budja and five of my men have 
gone on a march to ask permission to advance. The 
rule will be very different to what we experienced in 
Uganda. If the people desert their houses, there will 
be no one to take payment for anything ; but should 
they remain, every tiling, even plantain or sweet potato, 
must be purchased, and nothing plundered. The day 
was a weary long one of expectation ; but by three 
o'clock in the afternoon the taps of Budja's drum in 
the distance were recognised, and we went to meet 
him returning from Unyoro. 

All the villagers except one man had run away at 
the sight of the Waganda ; but this person told them 
" to return for ordera to-morrow, as the district officer 
was absent; they must not advance, otherw^ise there 
would be a fight When they reach the king s, the 
white man, as he is a cannibal, will have an albino to 
eat, and the Waganda the back-bones of an old cow ! " 
It seemed odd that they should consider us cannibals; 
but my valet Uledi told me that in his native 
country of Uhiao the people there imagined that " all 
foreigners eat human flesh ; and that cloth was dyed 



THE NATIVES OF UNYORO. 253 

scarlet with human blood." It seemed to be a favom-- 
ite joke against the Waganda, " the bones of a cow " — 
they are so constantly plimdering the people of Unyoro 
of their cattle that it is not to be wondered at that this 
taunt should meet them. 

28th. — Halted by order ; probably for several days. 
On requesting a certain number of my men to proceed 
and find out whether we could advance, they refused 
through fear, and lecturing them was the only remedy. 
Appealing to Mabruk, who had some months pre- 
viously been sent to Kamarasi as an envoy, whether 
he would go, he replied that, although the king had 
called us names, such as "cannibals" and "butter- 
eaters," &c., he would willingly obey orders ; there- 
fore he and some Waganda went, returning in the 
afternoon. They had seen a M^koongoo, or district 
officer, who said we must remain where we were till 
orders arrived from headquarters. He particularly in- 
quired, " What could have made the other white man 
go by water while I proceeded by land ? for it looked 
as if he was approaching the coimtry by a forbidden 
route." This made me anxious about Speke, of whom 
I could hear nothing. The natives were laughing and 
shouting during the night, and in the morning three of 
them, with spears covered up, came to call, begging 
for some beef; but my Waganda were very angry 
with them for appearing armed in camp, though they 
seemed poor harmless creatures. The Wanyoro I have 
seen are all dull, stupid-looking men, with heavy fore- 
heads and eyebrows, without the gentlemanly appear- 
ance or smartness of the Waganda. 

New moon was seen to-night Seedees uttered 
their prayers as they looked at it. 



254 MODE OP PURCHASING PROVISIONS. 

29th July, — Halt. Coarse, rainy morning and after- 
noon. This month, when no rain is falling at 5** south 
lat, we have had several heavy showers ; rain seems 
to fall here every month in the year, which accomits 
for the continuity of crop. A dozen armed Wanyoro, 
with capped spears, pay us a visit, their chief bringing 
me two bunches of plantain as a present They get 
some beef and beads, and say that Speke will never 
be allowed to proceed by the water-route he is trying. 
He will have to return and approach by the regular 
beaten track on which I had travelled. On my 
appealing for aid to Budja, he says it is impossible to 
communicate this information to Speke ; he will find 
it out himself, and there is no fear of him. 

My valet, whom I considered honest, I found help- 
ing a brother Secdee to some mVeng^. On repri- 
manding through an interpreter, he begged pardon 
for the oflFence, while lolling on his bed with a quid of 
tobacco in his moutL These Seedees are not to be 
trusted unless the most rigorous discipline is enforced 

Two of my men start with their guns, carrying 
beef and cowries with which to purchase plantain or 
potato from the villagers. They meet a party of 
Waganda there, who say to them, " You fools ! what 
do you mean by paying for food, when you can get 
it like us for nothing?" The custom was for the 
Waganda to go to the Wanyoro and make a polite 
request for provisions, which were generally given 
free. 

An infectious disease has broken out amongst the 
cattle. One of them has the roof of its mouth so 
aflFected that it cannot eat. Its tongue has become 
discoloured, and there is an appearance of irritation 



THREE SPECIES OF VULTURE. — LIZARDS. 255 

between the hoofs. This does not prevent the men 
from wishing to eat it before it should become worse. 

30th. — Halt. Eain during the night. We are 
haunted by three different coloured vultures. Tlie 
first is the ragged-looking, wedge-headed vulture of 
Uganda notoriety, the "m'saega," easily caught in a 
trap by a bent bough and two nooses. His plumage 
is a dull sepia colour. The whole neck is red and 
bare, with a ruff of white feathers circling the root 
of the neck. The second, probably the female, is a 
much bolder bird, larger, and of a dim colour, with 
a bare, dark grey, or black neck, called " m'foongoo " 
by the Seedees. The third was a very shy bird, 
quite as large as, and plumper than the last, and 
much handsomer than either. His plumage was jet- 
black, with the rump, thigh feathers, and rear half of 
the wings snowy white. 

The hut I am in is full of small lizards about six 
inches long. In fighting, two chased each other round 
and round, with intervals, in a small circle, keeping 
their tails everted, for fear of being bitten off. Tlie 
largest got hold of the other's foot, held it most 
viciously, while the other, struggling, made its escape. 
They live by stalking up to flies, and suddenly 
pouncing on them. At night they have the power, 
like flies, of sleeping while on the ceiling of the hut 
After rain, when small red centipedes were on the 
ground, I have seen these little animals make a rush 
at the insect, shake it as a dog would a rat, leave it 
there, and run back to the hut. On examining the 
insect, which remained motionless, its head was found 
to have been eaten off. 

31gt. — Halt. I was roused out of a fast sleep by 



256 A HYENA STEALS A GOAT. 

shouts and screams from my men in the hut My 
first thought was to look whether a fire had broken 
out; and finding this was not the case, I inquired 
whether Wanyoro had attacked us. The bleating of a 
goat disclosed the fact that a hyena had carried away 
the fattest of our flock. Torches were lit and search 
made, but nothing was recovered till morning, when 
the paunch and one kidney of the poor animal were 
the only traces found. He must have been a bold 
hyena to have broken through so strong a fence close 
to where we all slept, and in size he must have been 
a monster, for his spoor was as large as my hand. 
The Seedees complain that all the plantain and sweet 
potato about the place have been eaten up — " they are 
starving;" although every third day a cow is killed 
for them ! 

Not far firom this hut there are three caverns dug, 
looking like the hold of a ship, in which the natives 
secrete their grain, &c., from their plundering neigh- 
bours, the Waganda, but at present they are empty. 
The Unyoro MTioongoo sends a message, bidding us 
not to be impatient for the king s reply, as it will 
certainly arrive to-day or to-morrow ; but I am more 
anxious about Speke, who should have joined us by 
this time, and nothing has been heard of him. 

A storm of thunder, lightning, and rain, blew in 
gusts firom the south, then veered round to N.W., 
dashing like waterspouts upon the ground. It began 
at 4, with an interval at sunset, and lasted till 8 p.m. 
About two inches of rain fell. 

1st August. — Halt. A bait of a cow's head was 
placed last night for the hyena that had stolen the 
goat, but no shot was obtained, as it rained. In the 



WAGANDA GIRLS. 257 

morning, however, it appeared, from the tracks of the 
animal, that he must have been dancing about it on 
his hind legs like a bear. Our cattle, though in a 
perfectly open fold, the hyena never attacks, as the 
cows would kick him out of the place. 

My men, without permission, went to Budja, re- 
questing him to get vegetables in exchange for the 
beef of a blind, lame old cow, that was killed to-day. 
He sent some of his boy-pages with them to the vil- 
lagers, with an order that two loads of potatoes for 
each mess should be made over to them without pay- 
ment This was done. 

I sketched the two Wahuma girls belonging to my 
camp. The prettiest, " Sikujua," is young but very 
black, and her history is curious. When at Uganda, 
Speke's men had to forage, seizing what food they 
could lay hands on. One man got his head broken, 
but he succeeded in making a prisoner of this little girl, 
and took her home with him as his mode of redress. 
No one ever came to claim her, and she remained his 
property. She had the pretty oval face and large 
ears of the Wahuma ; and no doubt, as those with a 
dark skin thrive best at Zanzibar, she is considered 
there a great beauty. The other sketch was of a 
younger girl given to Speke by the queen of Uganda, 
and now the property of Bombay. She had a yellow 
skin, fine eyes, and a rather droll face and figure. 

2d and 3d. — Halt. A man who had gone from 
Unyoro to Kawalogeh for salt, brings intelligence that 
Speke had gone far up the river. This afterwards 
proved to be quite true. No tidings from him or the 
king of Unyoro. Slight shower about noon. Leg 
stiff again. One of Budja's men, who had been to sell 

R 



258 ATTACHMENTS OF SEEDEES- 

women near Karee, confirmed what we yesterday 
heard about Speke's movements. This man had ob- 
tained ten cows in exchange for two women kidnapped 
on our marcL At Uganda capital they would have 
fetched only five cows. We have a few of the African 
tribe, called Mukooa, in camp. They are marked on 
the forehead with a stamp resembling a horse-shoe, 
called " real " or dollar, and three horizontal cuts are 
made with a knife on each temple. 

Being out of smoking tobacco, I sent a man with 
half a brisket of beef to purchase some from the vil- 
lagers. In exchange he brought back four packets, 
each the size of an egg. Others were bought for ten 
cowries each, or its equivalent, a single necklace of 
common beads. 

Seedees have strong attachments. Separated from 
their parents in childhood by slavery, they are cast 
upon the world, and become devoted to some one — it 
may be their first master — whom they look upon as 
their protector and adviser for years, or even for life. 
Instances of this often occurred. On my directing 
that a party of five should proceed ahead for orders, 
one man stepped forward and volunteered ; his pupil, 
child, or " m'toto,'' at once made another, as he would 
not see his patron risk his life, or be put to inconveni- 
ence, without sharing the danger himself. A story 
told me by Frij also illustrates this attachment : Some 
years ago he was proceeding to sea from Zanzibar, 
when four boys were placed under his charge by their 
relatives, to learn their duty. A storm struck the 
vessel while a boy of his was aloft in imminent danger. 
Frij went up the rigging, tied the lad to a rope, and 
lowered him down all safe, but the difficulty now was 



JEWISH NOTIONS. 259 

with himself. The mast had that day been greased, 
and while lowering himself by a rope it gave way, and 
he fell upon the spare anchor, and from thence, much 
cut^ overboard. Two of his boys threw themselves 
after him. Frij had gone down, but they succeeded 
in tying him to a life-buoy, to which all three clung 
till picked up exhausted. He added, that for their 
devotion the captain gave them 1 5 and 1 1 dollars re- 
spectively. 

One of our men became possessed of a devil, as was 
believed, for several hours. He was seized with fits so 
violent as to require being held down. In this insen- 
sible state he was asked where Speke was ? Would 
this march end successfully ? To which he replied, 
that " Our journey would be prosperous, but there 
would be delays.'' All Seedees believe most firmly 
that devils have this power, and that there are a 
great variety of them, some English, some Abyssinian, 
others Mombas, &c. — ^in fact, every coxmtry or district 
has its devil, some more difficult to get rid ofi* than 
others, the English being about the worst Is this 
African idea a remnant of tradition ? It has some 
resemblance to the Jewish notions mentioned in 
Scripture. 

The moon shone bright and inviting to-night, 
though we had a shower during the day, and the men 
till 11 o'clock made a playground of the space in 
fix)nt of my hut, singing, mimicking, and acting with 
considerable grace and great humour. The operatic 
song of the Unyamuezi, from the gesticuktions and 
perambulations of the performer, who invented words 
as he proceeded, was highly amusing. They were 
chiefly in compliment to myself — ^that God had sent 




260 INCIDENTS IN A STANDING CAMP. 

them the white man, or " Mazoongoo; ' who gave them 
beef to eat, and did not, like Dr Kiengo, make use of 
divination by the horns of antelopes and the entrails 
of fowls to procure food. 

ith, — Halt. Started a second set of men ahead for 
information. The reply we received from them was, 
that Kamarasi was a great king, and that it took 
many days before a question could be referred to him. 
Such is the way that travelling is delayed in tlus 
country ! However, I sent a message to say that two 
days hence we meant to march to the north, even 
without permission. Heavy rain, thunder, and light- 
ning in the afternoon. Guinea-fowl crying all round 
camp. I went shooting them with ball from the trees 
in the forest, and succeeded in getting one. The grass 
at present is too tall to see beyond twenty yards ; and 
no antelopes have been seen. Water is a mile away 
from our huts, in a puddle surrounded by rushes, in 
the low part of a glade running to the north. 

Gth. — Halt. Sent a party ahead to inquire why 
we are detained. A portion of them return, saying 
they had met a number of armed Wanyoro, who asked 
why we were parading up and down the road every 
day — ^well get a thrashing one of these dajrs ! By 
noon of the 7th, the remainder of the men returned 
without further news. Their commander, Mabruk, 
had seen a lion in a trap last night. The Waganda 
threw their spears into the dead animal; while the 
brave Mabruk discharged his gun at it, to show its 
effect upon the Wanyoro, who immediately dropped 
their spears, and ran, never having heard the report 
of a gun before. 

^th. — Halt. By noon a king's messenger arrived, 



ORDERED TO LEAVE THE UNYORO TERRITORY. 2G1 

with followers having their spears capped with leather 
and tufts of hair. He informed us that the king did 
not wish to see the white men because they had in- 
sulted him by approaching his country by two different 
routes ; they had also come vid Uganda, the king of 
which is an upstart. If they choose to return a year 
hence, with a recommendation from Rumanika, he 
will see them with pleasure. No remonstrance would 
be listened to ; we might march back as soon as we 
liked. This was startling, but I still had hopes. 

9 th. — Halt. A meeting, which lasted three hours, 
was held to-day to discuss the subject of our visit, 
and whether we could advance. There were present 
Wanyoro, Wanyamuezi, Waganda, Karagues, Wung- 
wana (Seedees), and myself. Every possible argument 
failed ; entreaties and presents were of no avaU ; and 
my most valuable possession, a double-barrelled rifle 
by Blisset, presented to me by a kind old friend, 
Blanshard (formerly governor of Vancouver Island), 
— even this was refused as a 1)ribe to the king. He 
had sent his messenger merely to see the strength of 
our party, and to ascertain, if possible, whether we 
were in the habit of stealing cattle and men, and ulti- 
mately to desire that we should retire to the Uganda 
frontier, where, after eight days, we should have a 
reply. This appearing to have considerable reason in 
it, and all supplies having run short, I reluctantly 
gave my consent to retire next day, but only to the 
Uganda frontier, where I should wait for my com- 
panion. To show the wicked spirit of the men, and 
their utter want of sympathy at this critical time, a 
few commenced wantonly cutting down some sorghum 
which was growing close to my hut, saying they were 



262 A FIGHT — AN OFFICER IN THE STOCKS. 

hungry. The only notice I took of it was to prevent 
the further waste of the crop. The same men had 
often exhibited symptoms of mutiny, and not many 
days elapsed ere they finally deserted. 

10th. — March back nine miles to Uganda frontier, 
agreeably to Kamarasi's orders, though much against 
my inclination. Two Seedees were speared by Wag- 
anda villagers while taking possession of houses. We 
in return took four prisoners, chased and kept at bay 
others ; and, to prevent a sudden alarm, cut down all 
the plantain-trees growing within thirty yards of our 
huts ; but except seeing numbers hovering around 
us, we had no further aDnoyance. The wounds were 
slight, but made much of by the Seedees, who said 
that one of the women prisoners was necessary as a 
nurse. This was a mere ruse to be allowed to keep the 
woman, whom I had made over to Budja, and I would 
not hear of it. 

11 th. — Halt. Fever and ague all night Fifteen 
armed villagers came tb pay their respects, but they 
had no sooner entered Budja's camp than he demanded 
what right they had to come there carrying spears. 
A row, in which my men joined, at once took place, 
and all were disarmed. I saw here the male prisoner 
of yesterday, a district officer, in the stocks. Perfect 
torture the creature seemed to be in ; he sat upon the 
ground, with two long sticks, forked at both ends, 
between his feet and hands. The neck and waist 
were tied tightly to a post, so that all night long he 
could not lie dowTi, nor have the use of either hands 
or feet. However, in the afternoon Budja released 
him, on promise that the men who committed the 
assaults should be surrendered, otherwise his wife, 



SEXD IX SEARCH OF SPKKK. '2M 

now our prisoner, would never be given up. What 
a mode of coercion ! But ever since Budja has had 
charge of affairs he has shown very great ta(*t, doing 
his duty most couscientiously. His defences, in com- 
parison with the slovenly ones put up 1ut(5 by th(^ 
Seedees, really seem erected with the eye of a g(»neral. 
He is very proud of his position, will not aHHO(!iat^^ 
with his own or my men, neither will he (Mit mcMit 
that has been killed by Mohammedans. All his (;attlo, 
I may remark, are killed by a blow on the l)ack of 
the head. 

12th. — Halt Sent eight Seedees and eight Wag- 
anda to inform Speke of my comi)ulHory retrcjat. 
They did not know where he was, but had or<h»rH not 
to return without having seen him. Tlu'y all ni- 
tumed at sunset, giving us a surjirise. An ofliccr 
had told them their errand was uwJess, for SjM^kc htul 
gone to Kidi, far, far away. Budja was infuriaUid 
with his men for being such jKJtnx^ns hh \a) rctuni ; 
besides, what would his king say if SjMjkc had jiro- 
ceeded to Kidi, where he had no jM;nni«8ion U) go ? 
He (Budja) had been imprisoned i\m^t times hy 
M'tessa, and thought if a fourth offen^;*^ were ('Anu- 
mitted he certainly would not ftm^fft. 

After sunset, cries came from Budja's ^^arnp, alxiut 
200 vards dii^tant. I found that the cri'^ were ih'iM^; 
of one of his pood-looking wives, Ij'rat/rn on m^Te 
suspicion for having W:rn outside the houi**; aft/T 
the sun had set Such s^- verity V} grxard the honour 
of the wives l= not urJikeJy V) lijave a 'ju3V: oyymU*. 
effect : and- ?50 far ai; mv oW-nation went, the hij>>- 
bandr Lad no ^T^sat cauije to ^-jmxyhxiu. AduJt/rrj' ie 
aeverdv t*!2iii?Led : mutilation i^ wA uij'y/r/jr/jou '. ^i^i 



264 CAMP GOSSIP. 

the Wakoongoo, or officers in charge of from fifty to 
several hundred men, have power to order these pun- 
ishments, and even to put the offenders to deatL 

ISth. — Halt Tv^^elve men are sent in search of 
Speke. A Seedee had fever from bathing after noon, 
which is thought by them an unhealthy time. Out 
shooting after " noble buck," with a dozen villagers as 
guides. The animals were very wild ; and the bogs, 
with a broiling sun overhead, were disagreeable. 

lAth. — Halt. Fever and ague all night. Frij and 
all Seedees believe that the Jews, or Yahoodee, living 
in Calcutta, seize people, and tie them up by the heels 
till blood falls from them into a dish, when they are 
released, but rarely survive. The blood so obtained is 
prepared, and sold as a most valuable chest-complaint 
medicine called Moomeean. Frij had, while in Cal- 
cutta, once been seized, but escaped while the Jew 
went up a ladder. Also one of his comrades he had 
seen tied up by the heels, gave evidence to the police, 
and had the Yahoodee put in prison for eighteen 
months. These silly stories helped to pass the time. 

The cowherd Manua knows his duty thoroughly, 
for the day he herds the cattle he brings them home 
full and sleek - looking, being acquainted with the 
grasses the animals like best — those that are green 
and succulent, in deep shade. Tlie other herd, not 
knowing a cow from a horse, drives in the cattle from 
their grazing as lean in appearance as when they 
went out. 

We lost three cows some days ago ; and Mabruk, 
who keeps count of them, dow stands every nighty 
with his rope in his hand, at the door of the cowfold, 
passing a knot as each cow goes inside ; in this way 



COULD NOT COMMUNICATE WITH SPEKK. LM*.;* 

he counts easier than by the usual enumeration, and 
the animals walk in to enjoy the volumes of smoke 
rising from the fire in the centre of tlieir foUl. 

loth. — Halt. Feel anxious for news; by noon it 
came. Speke could not be found; he luul gone up 
the river. The chief Wahuma officer would not irivt* 
an audience to my Mussulmans, in case the sight of 
them would make his cows run dry; and men who 
sat upon chairs before kings — meaning tlie "whiti^ 
men " — would not be received in Unyoro. 

Shot two guinea-fowd with one bullet, and nlso two 
"n'soono," or noble bucks, accidentally with one ball. 
The second one could not be found, although h<i went 
away dangling his broken leg, followed by dogH. I 
stood in admiration of the villager wlio, with Iuh 
spear-head, skinned and cut up the animal into Haddl<?, 
brisket, leg, and other joints, laying them on the j)unj 
leaves of plantain as quietly and cleverly, and with 
far less mess, than is to l>e seen at the abattoii^s of 
Paris. 

16^A. — Halt. The time has arrived for Kamarani h 
reply, and none has come. My men all press me U) 
retire. There is not one in the r^amp who wishes to 
go the north or Eg}'ptian TouUt; and I long mf>st 
anxiously for Speke. Here we are, not more than 
seven days, it is said, from the phu;^^ where U^ats lie 
to take us down the Nile ; yet nothing will move 
those around me to push on- It is m^^t tantalb-ing. 
I asked Budja to join me in fon;ing the roa/l, but he 
could not be induced to leave his ^;ountry. " IM nje 
then conmiunicate with Captain Sjxrke, wherever /<« 
w." It was impossible, as his men ha/i no jy^rrnis^ion 
to visit Oogoongoo, on the other side of M'v^6ba*fc, 



266 KING OF UNYORO PREVENTS OUR ADVANCR 

where my compaiiion was ; but if I retired for two 
marches, and halted there, he would ask leave from 
his king. In the afternoon he anticipated my wish to 
send ten men into Unyoro to demand a reply fix)m 
Kamarasi. To dispel the anxiety we both felt we 
went out shooting — Budja having dressed himself 
very smartly in cow and antelope skins. 

At night I assembled all the men to explain our 
difficulties, and to intimate to them that our rations 
of butcher -meat must be curtailed, otherwise there 
would be disgrace and starvation for us. They agreed 
to my proposals. 

17 th. — Halt. Having now been twenty-two dap 
without a message from the king, as a last resource 
I sent a dozen men ahead, carrying some wires as a 
bribe, to ask why we had received no definite reply. 
In the mean time I went shooting some distance off, 
and had a shot at a leucotis buck standing knee-deep 
in water — the tall grasses almost concealing Imn. This 
animal is always to be found in ground of that nature, 
though he has not the hoofs of a waterboc. Rain 
commencing, we returned shortly before the sun had 
set, twenty-five villagers having accompanied us, and 
been entertained by my burning some powder in the 
bare palm of my hand. They told me it was no use 
sending men so often to Kamarasi, as he had deter- 
mined on not seeing us. 

I8th. — Halt. My men all return from the Unyoro 
frontier, bringing ha(tk the presents of wire I had 
sent. The district officer said, "How can I receive 
these gifts if the king, my master, refuses to see the 
white man ? " and he added, that if I stayed ten years 
where I was the road would not be open to me. So, 



OUR CAMPS UNITED ONOK MOUK. 1*07 

after a dismal day, I determined — having Ihhmi at- 
tempting this route since the 26th ult — not to slay a 
moment longer, but to make sciirch for Spoko, whom 
we had heard nothing of for thirty days, and to try 
the route to Unyoro vid Kiiraguc. 

19th. — Marched eight miles south, crossing a lH)g 
five hundred yards wide, and knec-doep, luid camping 
on the second crest of land beyond it. No soonor 
settled down than Bombay and tlireo S(»cdc(^H arrives 
with a note from Speke, who had that morning rciwlicd 
the ground we passed! I at once walkcnl joyfully 
over to his camp. He had gone out shooting. IMh 
servants were got up like M'tessa's pag(5H — heudn all 
shaved, except cockade-like tufts hjft to grow abov<j 
each ear, giving them a knowing look. In the abwaici! 
of their master they gave me a cordial grcjcting. I 
waited in the camp till Speke arrived, and I tuutd nr>t 
attempt to describe our joy at meeting ouca mora. 

in. Our Camps uxited. 

Each of us had met with a reverw*. But S|K^kc hiul 
accomplished hLs object, and seen the first ^atara/;t (ff 
the Xile at the point when^ it flows from the VicUprhi 
Nyanza. He had Wn attendc'd by only a *lo'/j:n 
Seedees under Bombay, hims^rlf a ho«t, and a few 
Waganda. Our further plans fjjuhl not now 1>; d'j- 
cided upon without a c^^nfenrn^;'^ with Budja. It w;i« 
proposed, if everjthin^ els^r fciil'5^1, V/ mAwj: SVUrfi^^i, 
by enormous briV^s, to give a thou^^axid f/ieu, aijd with 
this for>e trr the Kiliraanjaro rout^; Uj the ea>,t f'//4>X. 



2G8 PROSPECT OF ADVANCING. 

impracticable, as the natives had threatened us. Be- 
sides, we did not know what impression had been pro- 
duced by the fight on the Nile vnth Speke's men, 
where several of the natives were killed. Probably 
their kin«: was enraged at this disaster. In our diffi- 
culty we are saved by the arrival of Kamarasi's facto- 
tum, who brings us an invitation from his king. The 
relief and delight experienced at the moment were 
inexpressible — ever}i;liing had happened for the best. 
We had evidently been on trial, closely watched, and, 
most probably, the fact of our having been so submis- 
sive obtained for us the royal favour. The king had 
ordered that our Waganda escort should quit us as 
soon as w^e entered the Unyoro territory. They re- 
fused to ol)ey, thinking the order was insulting to 
them ; but I considered it a very wise policy, as they 
are such a wild plundering race, and apt to quarrel 

On the march I struck a zebra w4th a bullet, which 
made him, curiously enough, rear tw4ce in the air. A 
second ball did not take efiect, but he separated from 
other three, and went away limping through the long 
grasses, which hid him from our view. 

2lsL — Halt. Something stops the way. We can- 
not move as we should, but in Africa no one ever can. 
Budja distrusts the Wanyoro, and does not want to 
give us up to them. The Seedees get up a complaint, 
refusing to march because they have not enough of 
powder ; they ol^serve the Waganda leaving their 
hea\y baggage here, and suspect treachery on the part 
of Kamarasi, who is said to be enraged at having his 
men killed on the NUe by Speke's party. All this 
was a mere pretence, and they w^ere distinctly told 
that they might go back to Karague if they chose, 



WE MARCH NORTH — SHOOT A BUCK. 269 

but their guns must be surrendered. Their cool reply 
was that they would talk it over in the morning, 
treating the matter as if time were of no value. 

22d. — Hurrah ! we march again some miles nearer 
England, and encamp on the northern boundary of 
Uganda. Seventeen of the mutineer Seedees delivered 
up their gims, their names were noted, ammunition 
was served out, and they had the guns returned — a 
very simple expedient, accomplished without any fur- 
ther misunderstanding. 

Went shooting in a swamp. My first shot was at 
a leucotis buck, but he bounded away untouched. 
Again we came upon him lying immersed in water, 
all but his noble head. On being alarmed he stood 
for a shot, which penetrated both shoulder-blades, and 
lodged under the ofi'-skin. Budja was in such ecstasy 
that he jumped through the water up to him, with all 
his lads following. A Seedee got well butted before 
he could cut the buck's throat ; but after the Waganda 
had talked and laughed over the powers of my rifle, 
eight of them raised the (mimal with the greatest 
care out of the water, preventing his beautiful skin 
from being soiled, and placed him upon a bed of clean 
grass, where he was left to be cut up d Za Waganda. 
Budja's eyes glistened when told that he might have 
the skin; there was no end to his "nyans, nyans," 
thanks, &c. We heard elephants screeching and trum- 
peting near some acacias to the far north, but my 
Waganda dreaded going within sight of them, and 
stole away home. We could not find them, but dur- 
ing the night heard their musical cry as they browsed 
in the moonlight. 

Between the 23d August and 2d September we only 



270 MARCHING IN UNYORO. 

made four marches, but fortunately they were all in 
the right direction. The country waved in gentle 
long swells of land covered with tall grass and thin 
forest, with a few low conical hills. The clearances 
for cultivation, generally fenced against wild animals, 
were few ; and in the low grounds sweet potato, ooley- 
zee, and a few plantain were grown. The houses 
were of grass, perfect domes, but dirty, ill-made, and 
without door-screens or frames to their single en- 
trances. The people, as we marched past, appeared 
inanimate and unconcerned ; they stood listlessly gaz- 
ing at us, so diflferent from the reception given to 
a regiment passing through an English town, when 
every handkerchief waves a welcome. The natives 
deliberately carried away everjrthing out of their 
houses and allowed us to take possession, but at the 
same time showed sullenness at our intrusion. Our 
Waganda did not mind this. Wherever they go they 
know how to enjoy themselves, living always like a 
party of jolly brigands, by plunder. Numbers of 
natives came out to see the Wazoongoo, and never 
having seen boxes before, they believed that the white 
men were carried in our japanned tin cases ! 

The Wanyoro would seem to be penurious. The 
cowries which circulated amongst them were generally 
covered with earth, as if they had been hoarded up, 
and kept concealed under ground. This coin had 
reached them through Karague; and Kidjweega, an 
officer not more than thirty-five years of age, recol- 
lected the time when ten cowries bought a cow, and 
thirty secured a woman. Times have changed. It 
now takes half a load to purchase a cow. Here, at 
the division between the commerce coming up the 



BROTHERHOOD AMONGST THE WANYORO. 27l 

Nile and that of the east coast of Africa, beads were 
little used, and cloth and coinage were unknown. 
But Kamarasi had received, four years previously 
(reckoning five months to the year), some beads from 
the traders on the Nile, and it is to be hoped that, the 
road having once been opened, trade and civilisation 
may advance. The natives manufactured ornaments 
of ivory for the wrists and ankles. These, and rings, 
were split at one part, not formed in entire unbroken 
circles, probably for the reason that they could be 
slipped on more easily by being divided. The price 
of their smallest ring was twenty-five cowrie-shells, 
which I considered expensive. They had also spear- 
blades, two spans long and two inches at their greatest 
breadth. The Waganda purchased several of them 
at five hundred cowries each, and one cow would 
buy ten, or bark-cloth would be taken in exchange. 
While here a good deal of business was done, the 
natives purchasing meat from our men; but if any 
butter had been used in cooking it, they would reject 
it as food. Men and women wore anklets made of 
hair covered with twisted brass, iron, or copper wire. 

Manua made brotherhood with the officer Kidj- 
weega, as he had done with Bombay at Ukuni, but 
after a different fashion. A Wanyoro made a slight 
incision to the right above Manuals navel. His blood 
was tasted by Kidjweega, who had the same done to 
him by a Seedee, and Manua partook of his blood. 
These brotherhoods are synonymous with our masonic 
institutions, and do a great deal of good, as from that 
time forward friendship is sworn; and I must say 
that until the last moment these two men remained 
excellent friends. The work of civilisation may be 



272 MORNING DEWS — MESSAGE FROM m'tESSA. 

promoted by this means, as the natives have no objec- 
tion to make brotherhood with Europeans. 

We had not much rain during the last week of 
August. After a shower one morning, upon the space 
cleared in front of our hut appeared hundreds of 
white maggots wdth black heads, curling themselves 
into an arc, jumping and throwing themselves over 
the ground as if set upon springs. The morning dews, 
as we marched in Indian file through grasses higher 
than and thick as a field of wheat, made everything 
uncomfortably damp. The Wanyoro, fearful of get- 
ting wet, or having their rags of skins and bark-cloths 
injured, carried in front of them an immense broom 
made of plantain-leaves to brush the dew off the grass, 
which they considered injurious to health, causing the 
itch. At first we could not understand why unclad 
natives should carry about these besoms, and the 
sight of so many of them by the side of the path 
perplexed us. 

M'tessa had sent a large party to inquire how 
we were getting on. Imagining this was all they 
wanted, we thought they might disperse ; but their 
leader produced four little pieces of wood, saying w4th 
emphasis, one was for a double-barrelled gun that 
would last the king his lifetime ; a second was for 
gun- wads ; a third for strengthening medicine ; and a 
fourth for anything the " Bana" (meaning Speke) liked 
to send. We returned our kindest regards to their 
king, and told them that all they asked, and even 
more, would be sent from Ugani should an opportunity 
ever offer. 

A touching incident occurred here. A woman of 
the village recognised amongst our Seedees her brother. 



STRANGE lUJCOGNlTlOX. 271^ 

whom she had not seen or heard of aiiioo thoy wvvv 
children at their home in Uhiao, fifteen hundiXMl iuih'« 
distant to the south-east. Both had been ouptun'd jus 
slaves in infancy. On seeing her brother the poor 
woman burst into tears, but did not, through timidity, 
make herself known the first day, merely leaving a 
message that he should be asked whether his nann* 
was not so-and-so when he was young. T\u\ follow- 
ing day her owner came for the brotlier (called by uh 
Baxootee, or Powder), and led him away. Sev<irul 
Seedees went to witness the scene, au<l 1 Mi much 
inclined to be equally intrusive. They rejiortcd thai 
the girl, who was very like her brother, full at \m 
feet, got into hysterics, but could not communicaU; 
with him, as she had forgotten her native language, 
and Barootee did not know that of Unyoro. This 
was the only interview they had. »She would will- 
ingly have followed him, and she scut him all hIjc 
could to show her affection — namely, an immenH^; 
dish of porridge and three fowLs lxiilf;d iuU} w^upl 
Her husband or owner accompanied us on the march 
for several days ; but Banxjtee said he had no [>n:H^;nt 
to give his sister, and she therefore wa« left li^jhind* 

On the 31st August, a party of Waganda r^ame 
with an important message from the king that we 
were to return at once to him, even if we ha/l got 
within a march of KamarasL He ha^l something verv' 
particular to say to us, and would allow o.h Up pnK:/:ed 
by whatever route we chose, Badja said the orfhr 
could not be disobeyed, it was imfjerative ; but aft/T 
four hoars' consultation, neither Aide would yi^-ld, 
except the Seedees, who said, "'* We go t/p L'gar»/la 
whether our maaters like it or not." (Jn Vj^'dng t/»\fl 

s 



274 ELEPHANT -HUNTING. 

they were welcome to leave, but they must not take 
their guns, as they were Speke s property, they got 
up abruptly, sapng, " The guns are ours, and we 
march to-morrow with Budja to M'tessa." They in- 
solently beat the drum at night for a morning's march 
Kamarasi seems to have had information of this, for 
nearly two hundred men, all armed, w^ere collected 
and gathered round our hut next day to resist, if 
necessaiy, any attempt made by the Waganda to take 
us forciljly away. However, they were not required, 
as by six o'clock of the morning of the 1st September 
twenty-eight Seedees deserted with Budja, who took 
with him the rain-gauge as a present for his king. 
Thus we were well rid of all the disaffected of our 
camp, and left simply with Bombay and our best 
Seedee servants. 

2d to 9th Septeinber. — The great events of this 
week were elephant-shooting and our arrival in sight 
of Kamarasi s residence. 

Let us note the former. A number of Wanyoro led 
the way out of camp to a forest covered with tall 
grasses like wild oats, and with ordinary-sized shady 
trees. Alounds of earth, the formation of white ants, 
were here and there visible. After a time the bouo:hs 
bore marks as if lightning had struck them, they were 
broken so wantonly; the grasses underneath were 
trodden as if they had been passed over by a roUer. 
All the spoors were fresh, so that every moment we 
expected to see the herd, and not a little excitement 
prevailed. A low whistle from a sharp-eared Wanyoro 
made us all exchange glances. He had heard the 
cracking of branches, and soon, sure enough, about 
three hundred yards distant, in the open grass, were 



ELEPHANT - HUNTING. 275 

the blue backs of about forty elephants. I had never 
seen such a sight, and Speke wished me to have the 
first shot ; but another herd appeared in an opposite 
direction, and I preferred going alone, with a single 
follower carrying a spare gun. Here, whichever way 
we looked, for three-fourths of the horizon, elephants 
were seen, all grazing quietly, perfect "lords of the 
forest," and so unconcerned that I walked boldly up- 
right through the grass to a tree within fifty yards of 
twenty of them. It was a beautiful sight ; all were 
mothers with their young ; none so large as the Indian 
breed, but short, stumpy, handy-looking animals, with 
small, long, and uniform tusks. The most game point 
and the most striking about them was the peculiar 
back-set of their enormous ears. While waiting to get 
a close shot by their coming nearer me, I looked round 
for my man with the second rifla Master Seedee was 
nowhere ! so putting up my Lancaster rifle, and aiming 
behind the shoulder of an old female with long 
tusks, I fired : she merely mingled with her comrades, 
who stood around in stupid alarm. In an absent fit of 
gazing, I forgot to reload tUl they were approaching 
me. I then changed my position to another tree, with- 
in thirty yards of a full-sized animal, whose shoulder- 
blade wTinkles I could trace distinctly, and brought 
her down on her hind-quarters with a small bullet. 
Up she got, rushed in amongst some others, who, with 
tails erect, commenced screeching and trumpeting, 
dreadfully alarmed, not knowing what was taking place. 
At last, some head wiser than the others took the lead, 
and off they all scuttled into thicker cover. I ran 
after them, but the jungle got so dense that there was 
some fear I should lose my way, as no one was within 



276 ELEPHANT -HUNTING. 

hail. Returning to more open cover, a female elephant 
was coming diagonally towards me, and she passed so 
close that I saw her wink her eye ; but the bullet be- 
hind the shoulder, though delivered at eleven paces, 
only frightened her into a bowling amble with her tail 
half cocked. A low whistle now announced Speke 
close by. He had been trying their heads as well as 
shoulders, and had no better luck than myself. The 
Wanyoro guides joined us, as all the elephants had left, 
and kept saying to us in compliment, "Weewaleh, 
muzoongoo m'sseja" — ^You white men are men. The 
same compliments on our bravery awaited us on our 
arrival in camp, where we were looked upon as won- 
derful sportsmen for having gone so near elephants. 
During the night we heard their wild music, first to 
the west, then to the north, gradually dying away in 
the distance. The herd had very wisely marched, 
taking their wounded along with them. 



CHAPTEE XIL 

THE CAPITAL OR PALACE OF UNYORO, SEPTEMBER 9 TO NOVEM- 
BER 9, 1862, LATITUDE 1* 37' NORTH, LONGITUDE 32** 19' EAST 
— TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTRY — ITS CLIMATE, SOIL, AND 
ANIMALS — KING KAMARASI AND HIS WIVES — CLASS OF MEN- 
DICANTS — ARMS USED BY THE WANYOEO — THEIR FOOD AND 
DRINK — A blacksmith's SHOP — AMUSEMENTS OF THE NA- 
TIVES — THE EXPEDITION EMBARK ON THE NILE. 

The country, for a few marches before reaching the. 
residence of King Kamarasi of Unyoro, was gently 
undulating and evergreen, with tall grass and trees. 
On the light and higher grounds the grasses grew six 
feet high, with large panicles which adhered to one's 
dress. Where the richer soil had been washed down 
to the low grounds the vegetation was shorter l)ut 
more luxuriant. Nothing could be more dcsrJate than 
our encampment at the capital of Unyoro. I ran 
only compare it to a bare and dreary common — not a 
tree nor a garden to relieve the eye or afford shfulc; 
from the equatorial sun. The vast plain was covered 
with tall grass, through which at this season we r^juld 
not walk without wading, so that we were r;/jmpleVJy 
hemmed in by water. The northern half of the horizon 



278 THE RIVER KUFFO — FERTILITY OF THE SOEL 

presented a few small detached hills, the most interest- 
ing being in KidL They sloped away to the north 
from a high bluff point at their southern extremity. 

Our huts were wdthin a few yards of a sluggish 
stream, the Kuffo, from Uganda. Its depth, its mud- 
coloured water, and the tall rushes with which it was 
fringed on each side, prevented us from seeing the 
crocodiles with which it is said to swarm. In the 
third week of October its waters had swollen im- 
mensely, and bore along with them islands of the 
papyrus which it had torn away in its course, and on 
wliich I often wished myself embarked, as they were 
on their way to Egypt. Several times, when a gleam 
of sunshine broke upon the hills of Kidi, we could see 
from a height near camp the river Nile, looking like a 
mirage, but we were prohibited from going nearer it 

While fishing upon the Kuffo I was rather surprised 
to find that its bottom was pebbly, wliile its banks 
were formed of retentive clay, about ten feet in depth, 
through which no water seemed to percolate. The 
soil upon the pathways, after it had been thoroughly 
washed with rain, became of pure white sand, without 
gravel, and formed a pleasant walk. It was a loam, 
with from 40 to 70 per cent of clay, and, if closely 
drained, would make excellent land for growing wheat 

Of the surrounding countries we obtained a good 
deal of geographical knowledge ; for the people here 
were not afraid, like those about M'tessa of Uganda, 
to state what they knew. We had fully expected to 
receive letters from Egypt, but saw only some beads 
quite new to us, which must have been brought from 
thither. Until Bombay should return with a letter 
from a party of Egyptian ivory-traders to the north, 



THE NILE AND LUTA-NZIGE LAKE. 270 

we did not feel that the two hemispheres had been 
thoroughly united by our efforts. Our first move was 
to make the junction with these traders at Faloro. 
We were told that the water route was impracticable, 
and we afterwards found this to be the case, owing to 
the cataracts on the river between Chopeh and MadL 
Were it not for these, our informants told us we 
might proceed the whole way by water. This intelli- 
gence, together with our own observations of the level 
nature of the country, enabled Speke to map the bend 
of the Nile, which we were not able to visit, it being 
entirely off our direct route, and within the province 
of a rebel chief. 

One of the king's officers had travelled to the Masai 
country, to the east of Kamarasi's, and he said we 
might do the same, if his king gave us a particular 
bom filled with charms to be carried at the head of 
our party. This, with 600 iron hoes, giving two to 
each chief of a district, would enable us to get tlu'ough 
the unexplored country without molestation. 

This man also spoke a good deal^ about the Lweet- 
an-zigeh (the Ltita-nzigd of Speke), an immense body 
of water some marches away to the south-west, and 
extending back towards Karague. He thought we 
should take twenty days to reach it ; but a M ganda 
would go the distance in half that time. This is the 
lake whose position we expect the enterprising Sam 
Baker to ascertain, as we gave him a map of its general 
direction, and he would also be enabled to verify the 
latitude and altitude of that portion of our journey 
over which he might pass. When last heard of, he had 
manfully gone back on our track and reached Kama- 
rasi's. God grant that he may be spared to return. 



280 THE CLIMATE OF UNYOKO. 

Far to the north-west of our position, at Unyoro, 
are people named Ooreea-Wantu — ^translated eaters of 
men, cannibals — ^the Walsega, perhaps. We saw some 
of them, but were told they had drunk or tasted the 
blood of Kamarasi in the same way that Kidjweega 
and Manua had made brotherhood. 

We had a considerable quantity of rain during our 
stay here. The showers were very partial, appearing 
to fall from six or seven diflferent points of the heavens 
at the same moment, while the small river by our 
camp had been rising for three days, though we had 
no rain. There were no regular prevalent winds at 
this season; three \'iolent storms, aU from diflferent 
directions, the north, south-west, and south, were 
noted. 

An observation of the weather, fix)m sunset of the 
7th November to 8 p.m. of the 8th, is here given : — 

Sunset — ^A bank of clouds coUected in the south-west 
Night — StiU and fair. 

7 AM. — Perfect calm ; the grasses arching with the weight of dew. 

9 A.M. — A breath of air. Last night's clouds rising. Clear horizon 

from north to east 
Noon. — Heavens fleeced over with cloud. Gentle breeze. 
3 pji. — Breeze increased to freshness. Temperature, 82° in the shade. 
Sunset — ^Wind dying away. Heavy clouds over the south horizon. 

8 P.M. — StiU and calm. Sky half covered with watery clouds. 

Every morning and every day seemed alike, only 
varied by occasional falls of rain. The mornings were 
dull, with fogs hanging low, the paths wet, and the 
tall grasses dripping with dew. A fire was very com- 
fortable at night, particularly when the rain trickled 
through the roofs of our small grass huts. We suffered 
no inconvenience from the heat, being always shel- 
tered. 



DOGS AND CATTLE. 281 

We had no sport while here. The king was such a 
morose autocrat he would not allow us to go beyond 
our dwellings ; but this was no great loss, the country 
being mostly covered with water. It had been said 
of this country that the fences of the huts were made 
of elephants' tusks; but we found that the natives 
rarely killed the elephant, and when they did, used 
only the rudest uncertain methods. No pitfalls were 
seen, merely a heavy wedge of iron suspended from 
a trea A leopard-kitten was one day brought us ; he 
had been caught in the rushes, and Speke desired to 
buy him and make a pet of him, but his owner would 
take nothing for him in case he should happen to 
die; if, however, he survived, a present would be 
acceptable. The little animal seemed to pine away for 
want of its natural food, and died in a few days, when 
it was given back to be eaten by its original owner. 

The king had a large coarse breed of dogs, foxhound 
colour, although he never seemed to employ them for 
any purpose. He wished us to give him a medicine 
to prevent disease amongst cattle ; but our own soon 
became affected, and we knew of no remedy. The 
complaint attacked grown-up animals of all ages; they 
became thin, Avith a staring coat, refused food, some- 
times frothed at the mouth ; and as certain as they 
were attacked, although showing no signs of actual 
distress, their death was inevitable. Tlie natives 
always ate the carcass, but the meat looked fly-blown 
and discoloured. Calves appear to suffer from a weak- 
ness in the limbs. Our cowherd came, with a five- 
days-old calf following him, to our door, asking for a 
thread to tie round each of its hocks. On being asked 
what charm this had, the reply was, " Don't you see 



282 FISHING ON THE KUFFX). 

that he cannot put his hoofs flatly on the groimd ; 
that he is walking upon his toes ? This thread will 
give him strength !" The calf actually did become 
strong. We found that some meat would not keep 
beyond a single day; this was not attributed to the 
heat, but to the man who had performed the opera- 
tion of killing the cow. "He must be a dirty 
fellow, sleeping cuddled up with his hands between 
his knees." "If Baraka had been there to kill the 
animal, the meat would have kept for four days." 
Goats were never healthy ; the soil stuck between 
their hoofs, making them foot-sore, dejected, and 
unable to graze with any apparent satisfaction. 

We were unsuccessful in fishing with the hook. 
Tlie natives had a better system ; they set creels, into 
which they drove the fish in numbers. At the Ripon 
Falls, while Speke was there, the Waganda plied to 
considerable purpose a barbless hook, baited with 
roasted plantain cut in dice. On trying the fishing 
in the Kuffo, first with entrails, and afterwards with 
worms fix)m the mud on the banks of the river, none 
would take properly, and the stream was too muddy 
for the fly. Four loads of dried fish, as black as tar, 
were sent us by the king. Our men did not recognise 
them, but called them " mamba," the name for croco- 
dile, because they had large teeth, and were supposed, 
from the rounded form of two of their fins, to suckle 
their young. Manua, on being asked to have some, 
replied that he had never tasted fish, and did not see 
why he should begin then ; our men also had some 
objection to them; and when the women of the 
country were shown them, they ran away. In fact, 
some of these very species were purchased at the 



RATS AS FOOD LliAKOS. l\s;i 

Ripon Falls, bur the women rv^fusoil to i^x^k them. 
I tasted both a bit of the tail and shoulder : the fonner 
had been dried to a stick, and the huter >vas tough 
and tasteless. All had Wn caught in the NiK\ anil 
were eaten by the male population jilone. 

On my asking some of our S^^nlees, four in success- 
sion, if they had eaten rats, all pk^uled guilty, saying, 
" We have eaten every living thing excej)t hij>j)ojH>- 
tamus, dogs^ snakes, and cats. Rats were lu^tt^T finnl 
than beef, tasting sweetly, like t^^nder chickens, aiul 
frogs were also very excellent I liut now that th(»y 
had become Mussulmans, they had given up living 
upon these animala" None had ever caU^n h\nnan 
flesh, but they stated that when a person in l\mv 
country of Uhiao dies from having l)cen bcwit<*.lnMl, 
the wizard eats part of the body to comph'tc his in- 
cantation. In our huts the numl)er of rats and lizanlH 
living on friendly terms together was imniciiHc. Mvcry 
house had two or three traps, but these did not keep 
them down, or prevent their annoying fowls, in con- 
sequence of which the latter could not huU^li on iUa 
groimd, and were susjiended, like iiower-iK>tH, from the 
ceiling in a tray made from the leaf of the plantain. 
Lizards fed upon cockroaches and other ins^icts, and 
much enjoyed picking the l)one of a fowl. 'I'hcnj 
were two species ; the largest was dark, covered with 
bright spots, with a w^iitrj fish-like Ix^lly; the other 
and more handsome one had a bright Htri{x; down 
either side, from the arch of the eye U) the Uiil. Kats 
fed like rabbits on gra>», or flour when they could get 
it. TMienever we camped ufmr swainj/s the xnui4<jijiu>e« 
were in myriads, working their way even tljrou^^h 
bed-curtains of net 



284 THE KING OF UNYORO. 

Nine days elapsed before the suspicions of the king 
would permit of our seeing him. Our servants had 
many interviews before his highness would grant us 
an audience. But it was at last brought about by 
informing him that, as he seemed to prefer black to 
white men, we would shave our heads and beards^ 
blacken our faces, and present ourselves ! His mes- 
sengers at once brought a reply, that we must not do 
so, for the king was preparing a house and throne 
where the reception would shortly take place. 

His excuses were, that he had heard many bad 
reports of us through Waganda, who said we required 
several men and women for our daily food ; that we 
drank up rivers and ate up mountains ; that he did 
not know exactly what to believe ; but we must have 
patience, and we should be gratified. He had some 
Wanyamuezi guests whom he made swear, by stepping 
over their arms (bows and spears), that we did not do 
these things. They became answerable for us, con- 
senting, as a punishment, to be circumcised if we 
should commit a fault Although the king, fix>m sus- 
picion and timidity, took these precautions, he would 
daily inquire for our health, sending provisions occa- 
sionally; and on being asked what he would do if the 
Waganda carried out their intention of rescuing us 
from him, he replied, seizing a stick and holding it 
like a spear, that he would not allow them to touch a 
hair of the white men's heads. If they came, he would 
put us in boats, and send us away to our own country. 
He was lost in admiration of our hardihood in coming 
to such a far-away land. We must be devils; we 
must fight his rebel brother, and also fight the Kidi 
— a race of people who constantly annoyed him. 



THE KING OF UNYOKO. 285 

His highness's residence, for the last seven years, 
had been where we now saw him, in a naturally strong 
position, on the point of low flat land between the 
Nile and the Kuffo. About three hundred huts of 
grass stood here, covering an area of two scjuare miles. 
One dwelling was conspicuous amongst the rc^st, from 
its size, and in it his highness resided, with his cattle 
and followers around him. This station had been 
chosen in preference to his proper residence*, three 
marches south, as a greater security against the attacks 
of his rebel brother Reonga, living upon an island 
down the Nile. 

In appearance the king was fair for an African, of 
slender figure, nearly six feet high, and alx)ut forty 
years of age. His features were good, with soft gcjntlc 
eyes ; in sitting he would often rest his head ujKm his 
hand, with his elbow on his knee, and having long 
arms, this position did not seem constrained. As was 
the custom of the natives of his country, all the lower 
incisors and eye-teeth had been extracted in his youth, 
and the dentist to his father received the handsr^mc 
sum of one hundred cows for the operation. Tlic 
teeth are probably taken out by the hf;ad of a sjx^ar 
or small knife, as no more refined weajKm, such 
as a dentist's key or pinchers, was observed in the 
country. His forehead was disfigured by bW;k 
patches where it had been burned or cauterLse^l for 
headache or other ailments; on his nose he harl a 
similar mark, which he wished us to take off W;ausc 
it disfigured him. We never saw him wear any calir;o 
or silks ; a bark-cloth covering, tied round his Uxly 
tightly from above the waist to his heels, was his only 
raiment. It was the usual salmon colour^ but had 



286 THE KING OF UXYORO. 

small pieces of black bark-cloth, sewn very neatly with 
a looping stitch, dotting it all over. His head was 
periodically shaved, scissors being unknown; and 
small tufts of wool, the size of black pepper-coms, 
were the only protection. A single necklace of beads> 
worn very long, was his most conspicuous ornament 
By his side a spear rested against the wall ; its blade 
was neatly capped over with leather, laced like a shoe 
with two long strips from the skin of a leopard. 

Our presents of beads, boxes, guns, cloth, &c., were 
received by Kamarasi very coolly, vnth no sign of 
pleasure, only an occasional remark. He sat, as 
Bombay said, " like a cow," showing neither astonish- 
ment nor delight. A pair of spectacles put on by 
Bombay created a titter amongst the men, but he re- 
mained perfectly solenm. Nothing was examined by 
him, or handled with that eagerness which all other 
Africans were in the habit of showing ; all was 
affected indifference. None of these things were new 
to him ; he had seen all, except the double-barrelled 
rifle, and the watch which he saw Speke take out of 
his pocket. This watch, a valuable chronometer, was 
yielded to him at our second inter\dew; and whenever 
he received it, he told us that we had better leave — 
it was going to rain ! Though he now followed us to 
the canoe in which we embarked to cross to our huts, 
and stood on the shore, spear in hand, till we had 
landed on the opposite side, he neither bade us adieu 
nor smiled ; and even the natives accompanying hini 
squatted or stood unconcerned. However, we paid 
him every honour, standing up in the canoe, with the 
union-jack floating high over our heads. 

At the other interviews it was constant begging ; 



THE KING OF UNYOKO. 287 

he must have table-knives, musquito- curtains, our 
pots and pans, our medicines, finger-rings, &c., and 
most of them had to be rendered up. Once, when we 
had got into our boat after an audience, he followed 
and ordered us out into one with water in it, because 
he required the best canoe for himself. All was done 
so roughly, and with such a total want of grace and 
hospitality, that, at the moment, I felt inclined to 
throw myself into the river and swim across it, but 
the effect w^ould have been lost upon such a cold- 
blooded mortal. 

On his sending to announce that he would pay us 
a visit, Speke prepared his hut as nicely as our means 
admitted, by ornamenting it with antelope -horns, 
blankets from our beds, the union -jack, &c. A 
japanned tin case was covered for his highnesses 
throne, and a donkey-rug placed for his feet. Salutes 
were arranged to announce his arrival, and all our 
men had donned their best to pay him eveiy honour. 
But our preparations were not seen to advantage, for 
a wooden stool and some leopard-skins were placed 
for his majesty to sit upon, hiding our decorations. 
On being asked to change his seat for the one we had 
prepared, he eyed it suspiciously, and in a coarse 
voice asked what it was — what was underneath ? and 
on being shown that it was no more than a box such 
as he had previously received in a present, he sat 
himself down upon it. The conversation turned upon 
trade. " Did he desire traffic by opening the road to 
the north ? " With his usual chilling stiff" manner, 
though seeing the advantage to himself, he replied 
that all the ivory of his country now goes to Zan- 
zibar, because he is constantly at war with the tribes 



288 THE KING OF UNYORO. 

to the north : two days he is at peace, and five days 
at war (curiously enough indicating the di\'ision of 
time into weeks). Changing the subject, he com- 
menced to scold a swarm of l)oys who were naturally 
peering in at the door. He ordered all but a few 
listeners to withdraw, and now commenced begging 
everything he saw in the hut. Pointing to his cheek, 
head, and back, he said that all his children after a 
certain age die ; we must give him a cure for this. 
A quantity of medicine was tied up in a veil, and he 
left abruptly, saying to his men, " Erokh togendeh " 
— Let us go. Although we accompanied him to 
his canoe, he took no notice of us, and was paddled 
across by some naked boys. No influential persons 
were around him, and when one of the scullers fell 
overboard the canoe was not stopped. The creature 
swam ashore, and commenced to scrub himself with- 
out any ceremony before his highness the king of 
Unyoro. 

With all his apparent rudeness, Kamarasi was not 
unkindly. Though his neighbour, M'tessa, ordered his 
subjects to be butchered, no such savage custom pre- 
vailed in Unyoro ; men were admonished, and told 
how fortunate they were under the king s lenient rule. 
Murderers, however, were flogged or speared, and 
their bodies thrown into the river Kuffb. Scarcely a 
day passed that we did not receive a little flour, some 
drink (very coarse and bad), sweet potato, or other 
remembrance ; but the great present was made soon 
after our arrival, when we each had ten cows and five 
fowls sent us, with an explanation that the king 
thought it necessary to send us separate presents, as 
we had approached him by different routes. Before 



ARRIVAL OF VISITORS FROM UGANDA. 289 

leaving, we solicited, and were presented with, a few 
more cattle, and a tusk was offered to each of our 
head-servants. In return for his presents, Kamarasi 
received English and foreign goods to the value, in 
England, of £150 sterling; this included a double 
gun and rifle, a chronometer, &c. Besides these, he 
obtained a considerable quantity of property left 
behind at Karague ; so that it is confidently hoped 
he will treat all future white men with due hospi- 
tality. 

Kamarasi was constantly visited by men of far 
countries coming to trade with him for cattle, slaves, 
and ivory. By his permission, the Waganda who had 
accompanied Speke to the Ripon Falls arrived with a 
message for us from their king. When they appeared, 
in their beautifully clean dresses, our hearts quite 
warmed towards them as old friends. Their orders, 
they said, were to accompany us through fire and 
water as far as we wished, only they were not to 
go to England ! Kamarasi would not hear of this, 
telling them, until he heard farther from M'tessa, he 
would not risk their lives amongst the wUd people of 
Kidi and Madi ; so they had to return to their king 
with a messenger from us in the form of a tin-lid, 
which was supposed to convey our kind remembran- 
ce. We gave them some salt, which they licked like 
sugar. Unfortunately they would not eat our beef, 
as it had not been killed by one of themselves, and 
had been boiled in our pots ; however, they got some 
porridge, some mVengd, and a cow. Before leav- 
ing, after having knelt to " nyanzig '* (return thanks) 
at our door, they expressed themselves devoted to us ; 
^ their lips had been sweetened and their hearts 

T 



290 THE WAGANI EATING RAW MEAT. 

warmed in our society." The skins on which they 
had been seated in our hut were smartly bundled 
up by boy-pag^, their court- dresses exchanged for 
marching costume, and away the merry creatures 
went back to their king. I learned with regret that 
my good friend Budja had died from the fatigues 
of marching back and forward between Uganda and 
Unyoro. The report was that the " black art " had 
accomplished his end. A thorough soldier the poor 
fellow was, with good tact and spirit 

People from Gani to the north oft^n paid Kamarasi 
visits : they and the Kidi were similar in one respect 
— neither, in their own country, wore any covering 
around the loins, and their language was a perfectly 
new one to our men, as well as to the great majority 
of the people of Unyoro. They used to come with 
strange presents : for instance, a small tusk, the skin 
of a tippet monkey, a string of handsome beads pro- 
cured from Egyptian traders, and the tail of a giraffe, 
formed one present received by the king while we 
were there. They retmned to their homes with a 
few cattle in exchange. The Wagani had conveyed 
and brought back Bombay from the camp of Nubians, 
and for this service they received a cow. After it had 
been skinned, the muscle that lies on either side of 
the back-bone was neatly taken off in a long ribbon, 
the meat scraped off, and eaten before us without 
being cooked. A portion of the entrails was also 
eaten raw at the same time. It seemed quite a bonne 
bouche to them after their journey ; and on the fol- 
lowing morning, when they were seen wearing the fat 
of the animal twisted in a coil round their bare necks, 
they looked fresh and well after their dinner of the 



THE WIVES OF THE KING. 291 

previous day. This custom of eating a little raw 
meat from an animal immediately after it has been 
killed is not an uncommon one^ but I do not think 
they are fond of it after the meat has been allowed 
to become cold ; they then have it cooked. 

The language of Unyoro, as spoken by its natives, 
although it differs but slightly from that spoken in 
Karague, was not understood by our Seedees until 
they had been some weeks in the country. It had 
not the mumbling sounds of the Uganda dialect, 
where their d, g, k, &c., and most consonants, are 
doubled in pronunciation. The dialect of the Chopi, 
Eidi, and Oani was perfectly unintelligible to our 
Seedees. They said it sounded in their ears like 
English ; but there was no resemblance, every word 
uttered being guttural, and not thrown smoothly out 
fix>m the lips, but kept in the mouth by closing the 
throat with the root of the tongue. Many of the 
names of our Seedees, such as MTcate, Uledi, and 
Sirboko, all coast words, were heard in Unyoro applied 
to men of the country. We also found this in 
Uganda ; and Kamaxasi is the name of an Indian 
Bunnea, or corn-dealer, living at Pangani on the east 
coast of Africa. These names are di£Piised over the 
country by means of the slave-trade. 

The wives of the king lived upon milk, and were of 
enormous proportions— drinking the milk of from five 
to fifteen cows daily. They were slovenly and list- 
less, not able even to make butter, or assist in any 
household work, and never appearing at any audience 
given us. In the fields, while at work, the women 
wore a neat kilt of bark-cloth to the knees, and had 
nothing on the head or above the waist. One came 



292 A CLASS OF MENDICANTS. 

to our hut while it rained, saying she feared being 
seen if coming at any other time, and wanted medi- 
cine. They are of an average height, and appear 
healthy, though their husbands complain that their 
offspring do not survive many years. An officer made 
a sad complaint to us, saying that if lus wife had a 
child to a servant it always lived, but any she had to 
himself died. An extraordinary little old man, not 
more than three feet in height (correctly drawn in 
Spekc's * Journal '), paid us a visit. He was perfectly 
sensible, though very restless while sitting for his por- 
trait, constantly moving lus head or holding up lus 
fingers close to his one eye. In contrast to this 
dwarf, the king had a man who looked a giant in 
strength, though scarcely six feet in height. He was 
employed in conveying messages to us, and could go 
through all the motions of a warlike attack, wielding 
lus spear with grace and agility, struggling with his 
enemy, planting his foot triumphantly on the dead 
body, snorting, and finishing off by wiping his spear- 
head upon the grass to free it from lus supposed an- 
tagonist's blood. 

A class of mendicants or gentle beggars called "Band- 
wa," allied to the Wichwezee, seem spread all over these 
kingdoms. They adorn themselves with more beads, 
bells, brass, and curiosities than any other race, and 
generally carry an ornamented tree-creeper in their 
hands. Many of their women look handsome and 
captivating when dressed up in variously - coloured 
skins, and wearing a small turban of bark-cloth. One 
man amongst them wore, from the crown of lus head 
down lus back, the skin of a tippet-monkey, to which 
he had attached the horns of an antelope. They wan- 



THE ARMS AXD HUTS OF THE WANYOUO. 2l^:» 

der from house to house sincrincj ; and are 0(*c*iisionallv 
rather importunate beggars, refusing to leave >vitlunit 
some present. A set of them lived neiu* us at Uii- 
yoro, and seemed to have cattle of their own, so that 
they do not entirely depend upon begging for auKsist- 
ence. The natives all respect them veiy much, n(>ver 
refusing them food when they call, and treating th(»ni 
as religious devotees. Any one may join their num- 
ber by attending to certain forms ; and the family of 
a Bandwa does not necessarily follow the same (xu-.u- 
pation. I knew one of them the captain of a baiul of 
soldiers. This whole country was once occupied by 
people of this class, called Wichwezee, who, acc^ording 
to tradition, suddenly disappeared undergroun<l I 

The arms used by the Wanyoro were the poonjHt* 
we had anywhere seen. Bows and arrows an; un- 
known, although their neighlx)urs at Karague make 
them their chief weapon. The spear is small ancl 
weak, with a thin six-feet-long handle of ordinary 
wood. Excellent spear -heads are hawked for sale 
in the southern borders, but the Waganda, a rielif^r 
people, buy them up. A party of srJdiers, wretx;lied 
representatives, dashed into our camp one day to 
rescue us from the Waganda. lljey wore ea';li a 
handkerchief of bark-cloth tied round tlie hea/], high 
in front like a Highland }x;nnet, and dirty ragn of the 
same material covered their loias. Vm-juI onianient^ 
round the neck were worn by such na \f(fivi*'^!ht-A uicnui*. 
to obtain them. OtheK wor^j flattened \ft'\\(tU, hirii/r 
than ganlen-peai?, made of jxJi.-JjMl iron or Ivory, 
and strung round the ankles,. 

The hut» or hoveb of the ^^iuntrj' were wrt'MhfA ; 
but there was thL* exea% for the i/';/>ple, tbxt n// y*';'/^J 



294 THE PRODUCTS OP UNYORO. 

grew in that out -of- the -world comer — and most of 
the habitations seen by us were temporary. Their 
floors were never swept, but bedded with grass, which, 
when it became soiled, was left there to rot like a 
dunghill, and fresh grass laid over it : vermin of every 
description swarmed. 

The cultivation is carried on chiefly by women, 
who cut up the stiff soil ^vith an iron hoe, and plant 
the various crops. We missed the shady plantain- 
groves of that garden of African neatness — Uganda. 
No fruit of any description is grown near the palace. 
Coffee is brought from Uddoo. The vegetables are 
pumpkin, sweet potato, and the grains sorghum, sessa- 
mum, ooleyzee, and the other ordinary varieties. The 
bread and porridge made from these grains are 
miserable ; and butter being scarce, and no plantain 
to moisten the flour, we had very poor fare. The 
cowries were the chief coin of the country; two hun- 
dred of them bought a small bag of flour ; and in sell- 
ing the meat of a sick cow to enable us to buy fowls 
(for thirteen cowries each), we obtained ten foondo, 
or one thousand cowries. The natives were sometimes 
induced to sell butter by our making up necklaces 
with alternate-coloured beads. A string of these five 
times round the neck purchased three-quarters of a 
pound of butter, which was brought neatly tied in the 
broad fresh green leaves of the sorghum. We had 
fallen upon the man who procured this treat for us in 
a simple manner. Seeing him pass, his body glisten- 
ing with grease, we accosted him, and gave him the 
commission which he executed so well. Our men 
killed a cow as food for themselves and us every third 
or fourth day. The natives, on hearing that meat 



A blacksmith's shop. 295 

was for sale in our camp, would bring their flour, to- 
bacco, or sweet potato to barter. In this way sufti- 
cient variety was generally to be had, and both paities 
were accommodated. We could obtain milk daily 
fix)m our own cows, though they were but poor 
milkers. 

The intoxicating drink sent us pretty often by the 
king was called mVeng^, and made from the millet 
murwa. Kamarasi's officer, on presenting a jar of it, 
would say, he " had brought it with the king's compli- 
ments,'* and that " we should find it as pure as water," 
but it tasted like the dregs of a beer-cask, and I won- 
der how his highness covdd get tipsy upon such coarse 
spirit. The person who brought the jar always went 
through the form of tasting it, and the vessel was 
never required to be returned, as was the case in 
Uganda. Near the king's residence a market for 
this " grog," and for meat, fowls, firewood, &c., was 
held almost daily, our servants calling the place a 
bazaar ; but we were never allowed to cross over the 
Kufib river to inspect it 

A visit to the blacksmith's shop in any country al- 
ways repays one, and there the gossip is usually heard. 
In Africa it seems to be the same, and idlers always 
lounged about the Unyoro blacksmith's. The " shop" 
was a ten-feet-high awning made of the stalks of 
sorghum. One lad sat on the ground and blew a 
double-handled and double-nosed bellows, the air from 
which passed through a detached earthen tu\Hi ujK>n 
the live charcoal Two men squatted naked all but a 
leathern waist-cover, hammering, talking, and smoking 
all at the same time. Their anvil was a flat Ixjulder, 
and the hammers bolts of iron, the shape of large 



296 AMUSEMENTS AND SUPERSTITIOKS. 

chisels. The only other instruments were bent sticks 
as pincers, and a wooden handle like that used at 
home for a firing-iron. One man had three iron hoes 
in various states of preparation ; the other was making 
needles. When the bellows-boy forgot his duty star- 
ing at me, and allowed the fire to get too brisk, the 
smith gave him a lecture, and some water from a 
brush of straw damped the flame. 

One of the commodities which, being rare, we much 
enjoyed, was salt, brought from Kivro, a place to the 
north-west upon the Lake Lweet-an-zigeh, and which 
was perfectly pure in colour and taste. The natives 
there are said to extract it from the soil by boiling 
and evaporation. 

The amusements of the people are few, but our See- 
dees remarked that the dancing of Unyoro was supe- 
rior to what they were accustomed to see at Zanzibar. 
We had the opportunity of seeing a few of their 
dances, at which the men wore all the beads and shells 
they seemed to possess, and, forming a circle, sang 
and clapped their hands while going through some 
graceful figures. The nights were often enlivened 
by soft-sounding duets coming fi^m the harmonicon 
and drum played across the river. 

Superstition is prevalent, from the king to his lowest 
subject. Some straws out of the thatch of a house occu- 
pied by an enemy of Kamarasi's were to be brought us, 
that, bewitched by our supernatural powers, they might 
bring calamity upon their owner, who lived miles 
away. When our rain-gauge was missed, at the hoiu: 
for observing it, the theft was conmiunicated to the 
king, who sent a one-eyed man with a cow's horn in 
his hand to detect the thief. The horn was capped 



VARIOUS SUPERSTITIONS. 297 

over with a rag of bark, and had an iron bell tinkling 
from its top. This instrument was shaken roughly in 
the face of each of our Seedees as they sat down ; all 
seemed to change colour at the suspicion, and the old 
man proceeded to the spot where the gauge had been 
taken fi-om. He found it lying a short way off. A 
hyena had removed it, as his tracks were visible. This 
did not shake the faith of our men, but only the more 
strongly confirmed their belief in the "black art." 
Manua wore wood tied round his ankle, which he had 
received from some of his Waganda cronies, who told 
him it was a charm against snake-bites. Upon Bombay 
ridiculing him, he sharply replied, " Why do you take 
medicine from the Bana or Sahib ? my charm answers 
the same purpose.'' At cross roads we several times 
came upon a dead frog or fowl ; and in such places, 
if the party is wealthy enough, a goat is laid. The 
animals are split open, with some plucked grass beside 
them, and are placed there for the purpose of curing 
any sick member of a family. Wonderful stories were 
related of a dog having a single horn, and of the 
horn being long preserved by one of the king's oflficers, 
and used, when war broke out, to be stepped over by 
the troops as a good omen previous to going into 
action. One superstitious belief struck us as very 
remarkable — that Kamarasi, if he chose, could divide 
the waters of the lake ! It seemed a long-enduring 
and far-spread tradition from the time of Moses. 

No funeral was ever seen by us in Africa, and hu- 
man bones were remarkably rare. The dead arc buried 
somewhere near the house or under the cattle-fold. 
The body is wrapped in bark-cloth or the skin of a 
cow. The king's corpse is dried with heat, and the 



298 OUR SOLITARY SITUATION. 

lower jaw-bone ornamented, buried, and a tomb-house 
built over it. The hands and hair of kings' officers 
are presented in a similar manner. The umbilical 
cord of male children is buried inside the doorway, 
and those of females outside, as was the custom ako 
at Zanzibar. We had not much sickness while at 
Unyoro, but there were some cases of tertian fever and 
dysentery. Amongst the inhabitants there w^ere no 
remarkable diseases ; the only complaint of the men 
was that their progeny did not always live; they 
could not have the number of children they w^anted — 
a fact which can only be explained ])y the poverty of 
their diet and the abuses of polygamy. 

Our situation was little better than that of a 
prisoner in a solitary celL We certainly had our 
" morning post" after breakfast — ^the king's messenger 
— ^but there was seldom any news, and the day" hung 
heavily. No one was allowed to visit us but these 
postmen coming to ask how we had passed the 
night. Natives from intiiresting countries all round 
would visit the king, but tve could not see them! 
Dances and parties went on, and we could not attend 
them. Eain was felt as a relief, as it employed one 
in reading the gauge every morning. The insects at 
night were interesting, particularly a species of glow- 
worm half an inch long, seen amongst the roots of the 
grasses. If placed upon the hand or sleeve, it travel- 
led quickly, thro\raig out a constantly twinkling light 
at shorter intervals than the firefly, which also was 
numerous. We slept in separate huts. Mine was 
occupied by my two ser\'ants, who, though only 
screened from me, talked incessantly to themselves 
or to me, and sometimes got up to eat in the middle 



PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING UNYORO. 299 

of the night. The head - servant was an intelligent 
Seedee, named UlcdL On asking his opinion as to 
copal, which is used as varnish, he said it was not the 
production of an insect, although an insect is always 
seen inside ; but is a formation from the roots of 
decayed trees, called " nango,'' plentiful in Utumbee. 

The march to the north from the capital of Unyoro 
was effected, as before mentioned, by sending Bombay 
and Mabruk in charge of some northern men, with a 
letter to find out whether Petherick was upon the Nile 
with boats for us. Kamarasi would not hear of our ac- 
companying them : besides which, he said that, when 
we did leave, he meant to keep five men of each of the 
three races we should pass through, as hostages, tiQ he 
heard of our safe arrival 1 After many days of sus- 
pense, on the 1st of November, when working at some 
lunars, a gun was fired in the direction of the king's 
house, then another was heard. In the distance a man, 
it was reported, was seen with trousers on. It was 
Bombay ; and lus dress was hailed by us as a sub- 
stantial proof that he had come in contact with 
civilisation. For a moment there was a feeling of 
disappointment, as if we had nothing further to do. 
Our expedition seemed over, and we tried to scan or 
predict the far-distant future. What would be our 
next duty ? What our destiny ? 

In gratitude to Kamarasi, we sent him everything 
we could possibly give away, asking whether he had 
any objections to our leaving. He replied that a 
couple of our Zanzibar Seedees, with their guns, must 
be left with him, as he required them to deceive lus 
enemies into believing that we were stUl his guests. 
Many other excuses about the unsafe state of the road 



300 WE PADDLE DOWN THE KUFFO. 

were laid before us, but Speke's suaviter in inodo, no 
less than his fortiter in re, won the day. A parting 
souvenir of two spears was sent him by the king, and 
on the 9th November we glided down the river Kuffo. 
The banks of the river were lined with crowds 
shouting and waving adieus as we shot down the 
stream. Amongst them was a woman conspicuously 
dressed, and recognised by our men as a maid of hon- 
our, who generally sat at the feet of the king. She 
was the only female of rank we had seen, and she 
seemed plain and flat-featured. Her dress of yellow 
bark-cloth was striped with black, and her hair was 
dressed in a ridge-like form, after the fashion of the 
Uganda court. We enjoyed excessively the boating 
down stream, going at the rate of four miles an hour, 
and dri\ing fish before us. The Kuffb w^as so broad 
that two "gigs" might race abreast of each other. 
The sides seldom admitted of landing, being margined 
with rushes and reeds, hiding completely the countiy 
behind them. Delightful to us was the prospect of 
the water route ! 



CHAPTER XIII. 

JOURNEY FROM UNYORO CAPITAL TO AN EGYPTIAN CAMP, 
NOVEMBER 9 TO DECEMBER 3, 1862 — FLOATING ISLANDS 
ON THE NILE — RIVER SCENES AND CANOE CHASE — THE 
PEOPLE CIVIL AND HOSPITABLE — DWELLINGS AND ORCHARDS 
OF THE NATIVES — ^WATERFALLS AT KARUMA — FISHING AND 
HIPPOPOTAMUS TRAP — FERRY THE NILE, AND CROSS AN 
UNINHABITED FOREST — JOIN AN ENCAMPMENT OF TURKS. 

My first sail on the river Nile — the White Nile — ^was 
made upon this journey, but my companion, Captain 
Speke, had sailed on it at Urondogani. We entered 
it on this occasion in a log canoe, a few miles below 
Kamarasi's residence, at the point where the Kuffo joins 
it; and we floated upon its sacred waters during a por- 
tion of four days, making the rest of the journey to the 
Falls of Karuma by land, along the left bank. Though 
the mode of transit was not dignified, the water route 
was extremely pleasant, from its novelty and interest. 
Having emerged from the channel of the smaller 
stream, we suddenly found ourselves in a large lake, 
to all appearance without an outlet, being surrounded 
by rushes ; and without a pilot it would have been 
hard for us to guess which direction to take. After 



302 FLOATING ISLANDS IN THE NILE. 

proceeding for an hour the scene changed : we were 
upon a river a thousand yards wide, and in certain 
parts so large that we had a sea horizon. The waters 
struggling past myriads of moving and stationary 
islands, made the navigation very exciting, particularly 
when a strong head-wind blew, and hippopotami reared 
their heads in the water. Having passed these, there 
was no perceptible current ; but by watching the float- 
ing islands rolling roimd and round like a tub in the 
water, we saw that the stream moved about a mile an 
hour. These islands were perfect thickets of growing 
ferns, creepers, small trees, &c., hiding one-third of the 
steins of the lofty papyrus rush. It occurred to me at 
the time, seeing such masses of these islands, some being 
twenty yards in length, that the delta of the Nile 
could easily be accounted for by an accumulation of 
their sediment. During a smart breeze, with all their 
vegetation yielding, and lying over to the wind, they 
looked like a fleet of felucca-rigged vessels racing, and 
continually changing their relative positions. No sight 
could have been more striking as the crests of the 
waves dashed against them, and the sky looked black 
and stormy. It was a beautifully wild picture ; the 
slender steins of the tall papyrus, with their feathery 
tops, now erect, then waving to and fro, or crouching 
before the sudden blast, as if prepared for a spring. 

By the third day all the islands had disappeared ; 
they had melted away into floating fragments, or had 
got ashore, and lay over — wrecks — the leaves and 
fronds drooping in shapeless disorder. 

Where the river was above 500 yards wide, the 
colour of the water in the centre was quite muddy 
from the freshes ; that of the sides a clear brown. The 



RESPECT PAID TO AN OLD CANOE. 303 

greatest depth was eigbteen feet, which it preserved, 
with a hard bottom, till within a boat's length of 
the side, where it became nine feet deep, with a 
bottom of mud. As it narrowed between steep banks 
to 200 yards, there was no impediment to landing ; 
the waters then became of a uniform dark colour, and 
were shallower, flowing with a current of about half a 
mile an hour. We landed daily to sleep ashore, and 
had to pass through a long channel of water vegeta- 
tion, as the sides in most places where the river was 
of such immense width were walled in by a depth of 
reeds, rushes, and convolvulL An interesting custom 
amongst the boatmen was observed as we paddled 
past an old pensioned canoe of huge size which lay 
in the rushes. A boatman patted my shoulder, and 
then sprinkled water upon the veteran boat. I did 
the same, which pleased the natives, who never pass 
it without paying this mark of respect 

Many fine scenes were come upon at reaches and 
bends of the river. One with a precipitous double- 
coned hill called M'kungurru, on the right bank, was 
remarkably pleasing, the river sweeping majestically 
round its wooded heights. This hill was reckoned to 
be 800 feet above the water, and for a long distance 
it served as a prominent landmark. The Kidi side 
of the river was undulating, wild, and uninhabited, 
covered with handsome trees overspread with a net- 
work of flowering creepers, then, in the month of No- 
vember, in rich bloom, and presenting every contrast 
of colour. It was the hunting-ground of the Wanyoro 
and Kidi people. 

We had some exciting chases after canoes seen on 
the river, the king having given the officials who were 



304 CHASING CANOES ON THE NILE. 

in charge of us orders to procure food by seizing any 
provisions they might find. Immediately any canoe 
came in sight, all our energy was applied to the oars. 
The "chase" on seeing us would double and race with 
all his might, till, finding it hopeless, he would strike 
his colours by standing up in his canoe, when a yell 
of delight burst from the conquerors, though still seve- 
ral hundred yards from the prize. No sooner did we 
come in contact than the prize was at once rudely 
boarded. Bark-cloths, liquor, beads, and spears were 
taken and concealed by our Wanyoro followers, while 
the poor owner looked on powerless. The sequel, 
however, was delightful : the Seedees, of their own 
accord, recovered all the stolen property from the 
hands of the Wanyoro, and restored it to the proper 
owners, who then laughed with ourselves at the joke. 
The largest canoe carried a ton and a half, and was 
hollowed out of the trunk of an immense tree — not 
made of planks, like those on the Victoria Kyanza. 
Our kit was placed in the centre, or formed a seat for 
us at the bow or stem. Some cows we had received 
from the king were sent by the land route, and had 
to pass through a boisterous people, who twice tried 
to plunder them. While a few goats were in charge 
of my valet Uledi, four Wachopeh threw their spears 
at him. He could not see the men coming on account 
of the long gra^, but he captured a spear and a stick, 
losing none of his herd, thus showing his tact and 
bravery. He carried an unloaded gun, with ten 
rounds in his pouch; also a spear, which he broke 
by throwing at the enemy. We fortunately caught 
another thief driving away our goats to the jungle. 
Two of our men brought him into camp with his arms 



tied 'rHnri^ iaii ik rope coonvl aij* u^x'k* vV avlu^ 

brnding iis i-^xiy tightly with cvvxW : buc viuni^ U\o 
nigiil. ijjo«^ the doorsscAVii \ir;i;i^ f;»s(OJU\\L Uis \nxiu- 
lades eamc and released hiuL 

Wben nuurv^hing acKissf^ couutrw wo iw^umn) tud 
&c»n the inhabitants as )M>rtois« but thoy slunviH) }iiN>Ht 
unwillingness, never agreeing until liioir wou^^n^ ur 
cattle were seized. Kidjweoga had tl\o kiu^'^^ oi\Kn>« 
to collect a force of forty men as our gutmK I to \\\\\\, 
however, much difficulty in imuniring ovou half Uu^ 
number, the natives making oxouhos that i\\o M\\\\\ry 
of Kidi was dangerous to ptuu thro\igh. Our iduIo 
was thus rendered circuitouH, im wo had U^ MigMag 
from village to village in onh»r to oht^iin rolayrt u( 
porters. Even when the distauco to tlu^ lUMin^Ht vit 
lage was only a mile or two, nicmt (if tlu*ui iiiHirti4u| 
on being relieved, and tlic mons mfra^Uiry wcw'n roiu 
pelled to carry loads by our Hiti/ing thi*ir hpoam. 
On the line of march they were liv(*ty ainl jMililit 
enougL When any ol>fttacle oi^nirnMl on tlin \m\ht 
such as a sharp rock or hole, ihtty, witii tljrir ilin 
engaged hand, would sLap their thigh t«i wuru ihoMit 
behind them to look out No ntnmvk wan iiuuli', 
merely this simple signal given. Tim H^-MiuH hul 
a different mode of giving warnirjg ; tii'^ 'iillid 
out " M'wiba," — that is, tWn ; ** ciiwV' )M;h: ; or 
" jiwee," rocL 

To retom to the Nile, its sr^rn^^s an^l sj^^/rtx. Owe 
day's joanial notes " four hipj^^jy/tauji, two Kt^M/MUU*, 
two dead fish, and numerous sinaXl guJJ«/^ m:^'M m aii^J 

u 



306 BEASTS, BIRDS, AND FISHES- 

over the waters as we glided down the stream. The 
hippos required sharp shooting, as they seldom gave 
us time for an aim, sinking their heads the moment 
the boat was steadied. The natives harpoon them 
with barbed irons stuck loosely upon heavy poles 
longer than capstan-bars; and use trimmers of "solah," 
or pith-wood, attached by long ropes to the barbs. It 
must require expert swimmers to get up to a hippo in 
the water and deliver the thrust We saw small gulk 
flitting about and darting at them. The dead scaly 
fish upon the water were about seven poimds weight, 
the shape of a thick short cod, but with a well-forked 
tail, above which, as Speke observed, there was a 
small rounded fleshy fin, like that seen on salmon or 
trout. The boatmen eagerly picked those up that 
floated along, even though they were stale. We could 
not account for their being found dead, except that 
they had been poisoned by the decayed matter which 
filled the river. At every place where a creel-trap 
was set, our men pulled in to extract the fish, but got 
little for their trouble. One morning we had some 
" Macquareh " for breakfast, and enjoyed them very 
much ; they had as little bone as a sole, and tasted like 
trout. Where the banks were high and covered with 
trees, monkeys occasionally jumped from bough to 
bough, and did not seem alarmed even within sight 
of habitations. They were grey, with long tails, 
white beards and eyebrows, black faces and ears. 
The largest birds were the Batteleur eagle and the 
Buceros : the former, when seen soaring and circling 
in the heavens, resembles a bat in figure, and has a 
black body, with the wings white imdemeath; the 
Buceros is a large black bird, walking awkwardly about 



MODE OF ADDRESS. 307 

the cultivated grounds, having short legs, and his 
three toes almost of equal length. 

The people were generally civil and hospitable, send- 
ing us small presents of their produce — ^plantain, or 
perhaps a goat ; but they did not relish our passing 
through their country, and they gave up their houses 
with great reluctance. This was no wonder, for our 
Unyoro escort plimdered wildly like the Waganda, 
and escaped capture by running away. On one occa- 
sion they cunningly got up an alarm in camp, and took 
the opportunity, when the inhabitants were in a state of 
firight, to seize their property. But in districts where 
the population was numerous, all turned out to look at 
us, rejoicing most heartily, leading the way in a crowd, 
shouting and saluting. Some of our men became so 
drunk from their good wine, taken while resting in the 
middle of a march, that the natives tried, by applica- 
tion. of water, to bring them to their ^ ' They 
actually wished to carry one man, and never attempted 
to rob him of his clothes or gun, which he kept bran- 
dishing about. We were addressed indiscriminately 
as Wazoongo (white men), M'kama (sultan), Nyans- 
wengeh, and Witchwezee. Those who knew us best 
used the two former titles, while others spoke of us as 
Nyans-wengeh, meaning, probably, strangers, sailors, 
or Nyanza men. 

The women wore a sort of double kilt, as if a short 
one had been put over a long one. Some had tight- 
fitting leggings of iron beads, as bright as steel, and 
very becoming on their fine limbs. The quantity of 
brass wire round some of their arms surprised me. It 
seems that their husbands take ivory to the mart of 
Karague, and exchange it with the Wazeenja or people 



308 USEFUL PLANTS AND TREES. 

of Usui, which is on the road to Zanzibar. This metal 
was more commonly worn than copper ; being an im- 
portation, it seemed to be in greater favour. 

The dwellings were detached grass huts, generaUy 
in the middle of plantain orchards, and forming three 
sides of a hollow square, with some charmed poles 
outside. A store-hut raised upon piles is built in the 
centre space, to contain their grain, hoes, &c. The 
bark-cloth tree, or ficus, which we had not seen for 
several months, aboimds in the district, but never 
grows to any great size. The people collect the flat 
linear leaves of a rush growing on the river-bank, 
and extract salt from, them. After being dried and 
burnt the ashes are washed, and the water, which be- 
comes impregnated with salt, is used to boil potato or 
plantain. Some leaves of this rush measure fourteen 
feet. The papyrus is here converted into door-screens 
(like a hurdle). Strips from its stem bleach white in 
drying, and make beautiful fish-creels, while its pith 
is converted into wrappers or coverings for jars of 
wine. The pith-wood supplies floats, door-bolts, and 
oval-shaped shields to the people. A tree with com- 
pound leaves was an object of Phallic worship — ^the 
only instance of the kind we knew of. These, with 
the universal bottle - gourd, were amongst the most 
useful plants we observed. 

We foimd fresh eggs placed in the forks of trees 
near houses, said to be put there as medicine or JSiTgaDga. 
None were rotten, though several placed similarly in 
the ceilings of the huts were shaken, to try them, and 
then replaced. The spoil of hippos, their skulls, tusks^ 
&C., lay in small heaps near the houses of those who 
possessed tackle for killing theuL It was not thought 



EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE. 309 

lucky to throw these away, and a beautiful convolvu- 
lus {Argyreia sp) with immense mauve flowers, was 
planted by their side. With a branch of this plant in 
the hand of the hunter, it is believed that he is certain 
of sport 

The miUstone in use here is a slab from the brick- 
red, rough-grained granite seen along the pathways, 
and it is placed inside a hut, embedded in and edged 
roimd with clay. Any round stone in the hands of a 
woman, who kneels to her work, rubs down the grain. 
These stones had not been seen in Uganda, as the people 
there seldom grind com. Another slab, with irregular 
fracture, seemed of hornblende, as waving lines ran 
through it 

In our short experience we did not observe much 
disease amongst the people, and the country, where it 
sloped down to the Nile with an eastern exposure, 
appeared very healthy. Wens on the forehead and 
behind the ear were noticed upon some men ; and a 
woman, whose hand had been cut off, probably for some 
misd^emeanour when in Uganda, was the only maimed 
person we saw. She appeared to be an old vixen. 

Exposure in an open canoe during the heat of the 
day is very trying, and told on both of us, causing 
sick headaches. There was nothing, when the river 
was broad, to rest the eye upon but its glassy surface, 
consequently we were glad to come upon cataracts and 
proceed by land. On the eighth and ninth days from 
the time we embarked, both of us had attacks of fever, 
sickness, and dysentery. 

After a severe day of illness during the march, 
I arrived in camp exhausted, at dusk of the lOth 
November, and found Speke also unwell, but with 



310 THE KARUMA FALLS. 

the delightful sound of a cataract on either side of his 
position. The night air conveyed this sound to us 
distinctly, and when morning came, after a night of 
fever, vermin, and musquitoes, the noble sight of the 
Kanima Falls quite revived us. It was health and 
joy to convalescents! There were three cataracts 
upon less than a mile of the river at this point, and 
each had its own music. Seated upon the rocks of 
the central fall of Karuma, we were strongly im- 
pressed with its grandeur. The cloudy sky tinted 
the river a mossy brown, and the water was broken 
into white foam by a fall of six feet over three 
channels worn in the rock On the centre block a 
hut has been daringly placed to commemorate some 
event. Below the falls, upon an island, other huts 
are erected, but they are uninhabited, and approach- 
able only with considerable difficulty. They may 
have been placed there as stores for grain, as the 
Kjdi people on the opposite shore are constantly 
plimdering. The trees upon the island had their 
branches connected by cords, on which were slung the 
wings and feathers of birds, giving it the appearance 
of a charmed spot. Looking up the river from this 
fall, there is a long reach, broken by foam in two 
places ; but what gives enchantment to the scene is 
the view of the steep banks densely covered with tree 
foliage, forming a fircime to the picture, and recalling 
similar scenes on our wildest Scottish rivers. 

Inunediately .below the Falls, where the water eddies 
amongst rushes, we observed several baskets suspended 
from trees ; they were put there to contain fowls as a 
bait for hippopotami, or rather as an inducement for 
these animals to come and fall imder a trap placed not 



AN ALARM IN CAMP. 311 

hx off. Across their track a cord is placed, with creepers 
twined round it ; and over this a short log, shod with 
iron, is suspended from a bough. On the cord being 
touched, this weight falls upon the animal, transfix- 
ing him till the arrival of the villagers, who come for 
water. We tried to catch some fish with Palmer flies, 
moths, and hooks dressed with red rags, but nothing 
would take ; although, however, we were thus imsuc- 
cessftd, the natives brought us large fish they had 
caught in their creels. 

We were not sorry to be detained here by the 
officer of the district for three days, as ferry-boats 
were not ready for us, and supplies had to be laid in 
for a journey across the Kidi forests. As I was one 
day trying to sleep after breakfast, the natives outside 
commenced shouting wdth excitement On going to 
see the cause, Frij coolly told me to " Nenda indani" — 
I. e.. Get inside — ^get inside ! Two distinct parties had 
collected for a fight — the Seedees, with their Tower 
rifles at the " ready," with bayonets, &c., and their 
adversaries with spears, shields, and sticks, in position 
for attack. All were on the point of fighting, but a 
gun going off in another part of the camp caused them 
to disperse, and we heard no more of the intended 
battle. A woman, it appeared, had been insulted, and 
the men got excited on the subject, but the affair was 
soon over. We constantly had these little alarms. 

In the afternoon of the 22d, the loud soimds of the 
stringed tambira (a large harp) annoimced the arrival 
of visitors, and it was not long before the Kateekeero 
or governor arrived with a squad of rather well-dressed 
Wanyoro. This pflicial had leprous hands, looked 
dull and stupid, and would give no direct reply to 



312 WE FERRY THE NILE. 

our questions. He was muffled up all but his head 
in a yellow bark-cloth with black horizontal stripes. 
He presented us with a small bull, some iBour, and 
three jars of mVengd, for which on the following 
day he received some beads and pills, with the pro- 
mise of a handsome necklace when we reached M. de 
Bono's camp. On his second visit this governor wore 
a different costume, and another variety of beads, 
thereby wishing to impress us with the idea that he 
was a man of importance. He was commander-in- 
chief of the district, and constantly fought his men 
against Reonga, the brother of Kamarasi, residing on 
an island one march below the Falls. The inter- 
view was not over when it was reported that a large 
party of travellers were walking down the opposite 
bank of the river. Through the grass we could see a 
line of people going like a train, each one with a load 
on his head, and some wearing white skin coverings. 
They were Kidi going to assist Reonga in fighting 
against the governor with whom we were conveis- 
ing, ^d they marched along with perfect security, as 
a wide and rapid river di^dded the belligerents, and 
the distance prevented the possibility of an arrow 
reaching across the water. No one proposed to have 
a shot at them, as we were to ferry the river, and 
cross their track as soon as the party had passed. We 
issued orders that our twenty cattle should be first 
sent across, but Africans always reverse everything. 
The cattle were not over till after the sim had set, 
and we were put across in the first canoe. The canoes 
were of hollowed logs, eighteen inches out of the 
water, very rotten, and obliged to be caulked with 
the roots of the papyrus. We had three men pad- 



WE rii^Y ruK mix ^t:^ 

•iLiiig wich spooii-<sliaix\l stiok^ who wvvk^xi hiiixi t\^ 
gie* us aoiv>?s the v>ue huuiiiwl y;ml:^ vxf s^iix^uu, «h 
deLiT on their part would have oau:*<\i us to uussi \\\%> 
landing-place, and pn>liably oarrit\l us down t\^ iho 
next cataract. Kidjweogj^ who had ohjurjjx^ of \i»» 
brought over a smsdl goat as a sacrituv to iho wvkn, 
and to propitiate our man*h, A " Nrjpu\jpK" hav- 
ing some boughs in his loft luuuk kiHod tho aniiua). 
and spread it out upon the pvth, with its head laid in 
the direction we w^ere to take* Spoko wan then ankod 
to step over it, in order that wo might havt^ a pix^- 
perous journey, and all followed his oxanipli\ An- 
other goat, I underst<x)d, had boon similarly wunilltuHl 
on the left bank While waiting for the rattlo Iwung 
brought across, we ascertained the altitmh^ to Ik» \i,\)70 
feet above the level of the sea. The manner of swlm- 
ming the cattle was very simph^ M(»n in tlu^ caniM^ 
held ropes tied to their horns, and thoHo wanting hornM 
were tied by the lower jaw. Thc^ns wan ttonHidiirabIn 
delay on account of the tricks of the fturynu^n, who, 
had they chosen, might have taken four rnllU^ ovi^r til 
each trip ; but when alx>ut three-fourthn wmv crtmu*i\, 
a message came that, until we gav(5 them one capw for 
their trouble, over and alx>v<j the amount of their 
agreement, which they had aln^ady rtautlvtul mim^^ly, 
a hatful of beads — the others would U; detiiini-^L TUk 
was accederl to, but another mcHS^rnger arriv^'^l myUne 
they must have a larger one in excL-iuge. On pr<'ttinj/ 
this, they brought us a quantity of r'uMt j/larjUiin lor 
our liberality, and we enf:am{x^ri for tti^? uifcht n 9$$iU*> 
from the Fallff, in the mid^ile 'A a fcin^t of tro|/i''iil 
vegetation. A st/jrm of wind and rain b^;w with 
vioknee, making the boughs abov^ um cmsik, ai^i our 



314 OATH OF ALLEGIANC?E. 

unprotected camp-beds became pools of water. But 
notwithstanding these and other discomforts, in the 
midst of vivid lightning and bursts of thunder, our 
Seedees kept up a cross fire of shouts and songs. A 
sudden cry that our cattle were wandering away, put 
every one on the alert, as the beasts were to be our 
mainstay for the journey of six days which lay before 
us, through a coimtry destitute of habitations. A fire 
was lit for the poor animals, and they enjoyed it like 
ourselves, tUl moonlight and the break of day. 

The evening before we ferried the Nile, our Wan- 
yoro escort got very tipsy, and came to salute us 
with presented spears, after the manner of the Wa- 
ganda, but not with such grace ; neither did they find 
such ready use of their tongues. After laying douvn 
their spears, they stepped over them, and back again, 
as much as to say that they were prepared to die for 
us ! This over, while Kidjweega hopped a dance on 
his tiptoes, all his followers performed a Highland 
fling round him, to the music of a humming song. 
The effect, as seen by the light of a blazing grass fire, 
was ludicrous and wild. 

Kamarasi sent us, as his last request, that we 
should go and fight his brother, who was not more 
than a few hours' walk off* our track ; but Kidjweega, 
his messenger, was not very pressing, and we marched 
under the guidance of an active little man of Chopeh, 
called Luendo. For three days we were in forest, 
broken occasionally by a serpentine bog, along which 
the path was a gutter with grass eight feet high, and 
so close on either side that we had to push our way 
through it. Emerging from this forest, the country 
to the north was covered with tall grass, undulating 



THE BEND OF THE NILE. 315 

from our feet to the horizon, where the low hills 
of Gani were visible twenty or thirty miles oflf in the 
far distance. It was a cheering sight, for there we 
expected to come upon civilisation. My field-book, 
dated 27th March 1862, at this point notes : "From 
a red-clay ant-heap saw the Gani hills to the north. 
Coimtry to the right a plain of withered waving grass, 
without trees. The same kind of country lay to the 
west, in the direction of the river." This note I look 
upon as important, for it may be held to be a proof 
that the chord of the arc to the bend of the Nile, 
which we actually followed, was a plain, offering no 
hilly obstacle to the flow of the Nile from the point 
where we ferried, till reaching it again ninety miles 
farther north. Marching through this tall grass was 
harassing and monotonous ; the tread-mill could hardly 
be worse. If you held up your head to look for trees, 
none were to be seen. If you looked for the man who 
walked in front of you, he was generally hidden. If 
you walked in your ordinary manner, without stoop- 
ing, the sharp grasses went into your eyes and nose, 
blinding you for a moment, or drawing blood ; and if 
you did not keep your eyes and ears open, and take 
the warning of the hole, rock, or log ahead, you hurt 
your limbs, or tripped and stumbled in the most vexa- 
tious manner. Several times we lost our way, but 
little Luendo would good-naturedly jump upon an 
ant-mound, take his bearings, and put us right again. 
In going through bogs he was most careful in taking 
off his sandals, which he slung upon his wrist ; the 
Wagani, whose only covering was the skin of a kid 
in front, also took this precaution. As the journey 
was nearly at an end, and a prospect before us of 



316 WILD BUFFALO SHOOTING. 

renewing our wardrobe, we were becoming extrava- 
gant, and walked through everything with our shoes, 
socks, and trousers on ; but this was a mistake, as 
sand got into our shoes, and the grass cut our socks 
or gaiters. When we came to a pool, the scene was 
like that of a number of boys bathing. The Wanyoro 
first plant their spears upright in the ground, then 
take the load from their heads, dofi* their small cover- 
ings, and proceed joyously to splash each other in the 
water. Older stagers sit on the banks enjoying the 
sight, smoking or eating meat cut with their spear- 
heads. Tliis lasts for nearly an hour, and then we 
move ofi* again through the tall grass, till we arrive 
in camp, where arbours or huts are made wherein to 
sleep. Huts left by previous travellers were some- 
times met with, their fires stiQ burning ; and we were 
informed that the people of Chopeh and Kidi came 
there to sport. Speke shot a buffalo, which afforded 
great excitement. On his wounding him, the natives, 
with spears erect, rushed at the animal, who charged 
and drove them away like flies; at last, however, 
several shots and spears pierced him as he lay wal- 
lowing in the water. Not an inch of the buffalo 
was wasted : though the Wanyoro had our loads to 
carry, all was brought into camp as food. Many of 
their spears were broken and bent, showing the soft- 
ness of their iron. Afterwards, in our march, we saw 
a knot of elephants, heard the lion, came across some 
hartebeest — here also called "gnamoera" — and were 
informed that the people of Chopeh can creep up to 
the wild buffalo and spear him while he is asleep. 
This is strange, but is quite credible. 

On the 29th of November our party of eighty souls 



THE NATIVES OF GANI. 317 

stood upon the face of a rock, large enough to form 
the site of a gamson. Here we had the satisfaction 
of seeing in front of us another height, on which 
houses were actually discovered. All our rear men 
and cattle having come up and refreshed themselves 
from a cool spring in the rock, after half an hour's 
walk we stood by cultivated ground, and in sight 
once more of habitations. How deUghtfd the feeling 
after the monotony of the forest I I could not resist 
a " hurrah," and had a strong inclination to bound 
forward and see this new race of the " Gani,'' amongst 
whom we were that night to sleep. Patience, how- 
ever, was requisite. Our men walked along in Indian 
file, led by Luendo sounding his small horn to con- 
vey the tidings that we were upon a friendly mission. 
Knots of natives appeared on the heights above us, 
and we halted under a tree, waiting permission to 
ascend to the village. Although we had had men of 
their own race to guide us from Kamarasi's, and they 
had burnt grass on the downs the previous day to 
intimate our approach, and that they might prepare 
pomb^ and lodging for us, we had to wait till the 
"lord of the manor" invited us to his residence. 
By-and-by relief arrived. Two naked young fellows, 
their faces whitened with ashes, came rushing like 
mad "jogees" or devotees down the hill with spears 
balanced, and pulled up beside us. Their bodies had 
two coats of paint — purple and ash colour — ^the latter 
scraped as a painter imitates mahogany — and this 
colouring gave to their thin tall figures a very gro- 
tesque look They were soon joined by others^ no 
two painted or ornamented alike ; and some of them 
vermilion all over. Even boys affected gay colours, 



318 OUR RECEPTION AT A GANI VILLAGE. 

and dressed their heads with single feathers of jays, 
&c., floating like a vane in the wind. Brightly 
polished iron rings were worn round the fleshy part 
of the arm, a pendant of iron-wire hung from the 
under lip, large rings of copper and brass were in 
their ears, and all of them carried spears with bamboo 
handles. Bombay and Mabrook, who had passed 
through the district some weeks previously, were 
gladly welcomed with ** Veremb^, veremb^,'' sounded 
in a guttural tone of voica They had stools offered 
them to sit upon, and after some delay permission 
was given us to advance. 

Having moimted the side of the rocky height to its 
top, we were surprised to come upon a flat cleared 
space, surrounded with huts of bamboo and grass. In 
the centre stood a single "miloomba," a bark-cloth 
tree, with two idol-huts of grass, and horns of wild 
animals on the ground by its trunk An aged man 
with grey hair advanced, with other "elders'" and 
women, carrying a white chicken, some mVeng^ and 
a handful of a plant with a white flower. This old 
gentleman was Chong'ee, the chief of the place. 
"While holding the fowl he addressed us, then waved 
it over the ground, and passed it to his chief oflScer, 
who did the same. The body of our guide, Luendo, 
who had conveyed us from the Karuma Falls, was 
now rubbed over with m Veng^ from the plant ; the 
liquid was also sprinkled on us, and we were invited 
to sit upon the cow-skins placed in the shade of the 
miloomba tree, and were presented with mVeng^, 
called "water,'' to quench our thirst. 

The first impression made by the appearance of the 
little colony waa very pleasing. Their beehive-looking 



WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF GANI. 319 

huts were cleanly swept and tidy, and their stores of 
grain were raised upon rough pillars of granite, smaller, 
but resembling those circular erections in our own 
country known as Druids' temples. These grain stores 
consisted of an enormous cylinder made of mud and 
wattle placed on the top of the stones, and covered 
with a roof or lid of grass and bamboo, which could 
be raised sufficiently with a pole to admit of a man 
entering them. A rough ladder or stick with forks 
enables the women to get to the top for the purpose 
of taking out grain. 

The women, married and single, old and young, 
wear only a bit of fringe suspended from the waist in 
front, and a pendant of chickweed, or a bunch of long 
leather thongs like shoe-ties, behind. They have no 
other clothing. Enormous heavy rings of iron some- 
times ornament their ankles, and a few beads their 
necks ; and they are not nearly so smart in appearance 
as the men, who may be seen sitting upon the rocks 
in the shade of trees dressing each other's hair with 
shells, beads, feathers, or turned -up queues covered 
with fine wire. Their whole employment would seem 
to be ornamenting their persons ; and they are gene- 
rally seen standing in conceited and ridiculous atti- 
tudes. The women carry their children on their backs, 
tied by straps, and the mother has thus the free use 
of her han,^ The infant is shaded from the sun by 
a gourd placed over its head and shoulders. This 
custom is said to be common also with the Watuta 
race. Here also the people sleep upon the skin of a 
cow or goat placed on the clean-swept floor of mud, 
and have no covering. The doors of the huts are so 
low that ordinary people would have to go upon their 




320 THE CX)LONY OF GANL 

knees to enter, but the natives are so sapple that they 
can bend their bodies until within two feet of the 
ground, and still be able to walk The women make 
a superior description of basket, of close workmanship, 
from osiers or wands brought from the rocky dells. 
It may be mentioned that we had not seen the 
bamboo tree growing since we were in the seventh 
degree of south latitude, and we were gratified to 
come upon our old acquaintance again. Many of the 
trees gladdened the eyes of the botanist of the expedi- 
tion, Manua, who knew most of them, as the same 
species grow among the rocks rising out of the forests 
in his native home of UnyamuezL Again Brace's 
ensete was found here, of a small size, greedily eaten 
by goats ; also several plants hitherto undescribed or 
unknown to science, giving a double interest to the 
colony of GanL Strolling along amongst its ravines, 
and wandering far in search of plants, I came upon 
traps set with slabs of rock and cord : only small 
animals, such as weasels or birds, could get under 
them, and the circumstance shows that all races are 
fond of trapping. A native from the heights ^bove 
shouted and beckoned to me ; in return I beckoned to 
him, and though we could not understand each other, 
he was most polite in leading the way, knocking down 
the thorns and branches that obstructed us, or lending 
a hand over the ragged rocks. He understood my 
sign that he should accompany me into the camp, but 
before doing so he left his spear in a hut, probably for 
fear his chief should find fault with him for appearing 
armed. In return for his kindness I presented him 
with some beef. Chong'ee, the morning after our 
arrival, harangued the people of the village, telling 



THE BEEB, CROPS, AND CATTLE OF GAXI, 321 

them they must be kind to his guests : mul that 
whatever we wanted — ^meat, drink, house-room, &o. — 
must be provided. 

The beer made by the natives was strong and 
pleasantly bitter, so that Bombay and others showed 
the effects of it, becoming rather noisy towards night. 
The beverage is manufactured from Murwa, roasted, 
pounded, soaked, sun-dried, and boiled. When cooling 
it ferments slightly, and it is more agreeable to the 
taste in this lukewarm state than afterwards wlieu 
entirely cold. It appeared to us a wholesome, though 
coarse, heavy drink. The other grains here were scjh- 
samum. Hibiscus, and IlyjHis spicigera. The last is 
called " neeno ; '* we had never seen it before, but the 
natives cultivate it, eating its seeds roasted, or making 
oil of them. Although the fields were well wcjcded 
the crops were poor, and often appeared full of the 
Crotolania ghxuca, or **m'cflew2e," of whose inflat<:d 
pod, leaves, and flowers, the natives make a dish rr> 
sembling spinage. We had entirely lost the plantain- 
tree of Uganda, and rarely came upon Indian c^mi 
or ground-nut, which up to Unyoro had Wn alwayn 
procurable. 

Like the crops, the cattle are poor, and of a Hmall 
breed, rather dirtily kept. It was amazing V} t¥'Ji the 
odd way in which our two Gaol m^;n, who Hf-j'/nufpsi- 
nied us from Unyoro, and who had r^-j-j^wf-A a |>r^^fnt 
of some small cow.^ from the king, drove th^; Htn\p\ff/nt 
animals along. Simple driving th^y did not muU^^ 
stand ; one of the homa aorl tFif; tail w^^h f^nyht 
hold of by a man who walk^:^l aloTijr?ii/]/;, ari/I in thu 
way the cow waa urg'id aloTig tJ»^ rjf^L (ft h, tutftu 
ing, when all the cowa are ?>roT3g>#t t/9 t\k*\ ^m^j^ \h 

% 



322 APPEARANCE OP THE COUNTRY OP MADL 

the centre of the village to be milked, the calves tied 
alongside the mother^ the cow, on seeing her milker 
arrive, makes water into his hands, when, having 
scrubbed them, he conmiences to take her milk in a 
neatly-made oval basin or tureen of wood. The other 
domestic animals about the village were stupid-look- 
ing, long-tailed sheep, with reddish-brown hair. Goats 
jumped about the rocks, feeding on the leaves of the 
Indian jujube tree ; and dogs were occasionally met 
with. 

Ten hours^ marching in two days brought us from 
Gani to a camp of Egyptian ivory-traders, whose ac- 
quaintance Bombay and Mabrook had made some 
weeks previously. 

The small quantity of baggaffe we had left was 
earned from v3lage ^vfflageSr the manner of 0. 
" Begaree " system of India. Our Seedees could have 
done this, but the villagers, coming forward volun- 
tarily, generally enjoyed the labour. On arriving at a 
palisaded village where porters were to be relieved, 
we usually gathered under a tree waiting for the re- 
lict The head man of the place, when wishing to 
show politeness, had the skin of a wild animal spread, 
and upon this he placed a wooden stool or two; 
Hquor of the country or sour curd was offered, and 
after enjoying his hospitaUty we proceeded on the 
march. The appearance of the country, with its 
forests and undulations of grass, and with clusters of 
habitations every three or four miles, was very pleas- 
ing, particularly as it was often intersected by run- 
ning streams from the hills. Some of these were 
torrents, and the largest was a river knee-deep, with 
steep banks and bed of gravel All flowed to our right 



AKMS AND HABITATIONS OF THE MADI. 323 

We met with two new trees, both handsome, and 
one of them, the Sheabutter, called " Meepampa '' by 
Manua, resembled an oak in girth and general out- 
line; its flowers scented the air and were covered 
with the honey-bee. The other we found to be a 
new species of Boscia, with long lanceolate leaves 
and terminal inflorescence. The people here, though 
differing very little in their mode of painting them- 
selves from the Gani, are called "Madi/' Their 
women have the same smaU fringe in front, and the 
same appendage behind, formed of fresh green weeds, 
plucked daily from the edges of water, and hanging 
from their waists to their knees. Their arms are 
spears seven feet long, bamboo bows, bound round 
with leather thongs, and arrows of reed. As many 
as ten arrows, each with a different-shaped barb, are 
sometimes earned by one ma^; their peculiarity is 
that they have no feathers, and their barbs are as 
straight as a nail, lance-shaped, or like a broad arrow 
having hooks ; and though none of those we saw were 
poisoned, all were cruelly notched, to make them more 
difficult of extraction. The interiors of their paU- 
saded villages are kept very clean: idol horns and 
miniatThuts, near which^w medical plants, such 
as Bryophyllum calycinum and Amaranthus (love 
lies bleeding) are always to be seen. The houses are 
cylinders of bamboo wicker-work, plastered inside to 
make them warm, and have steep roofs of bamboo and 
grass. Game-nets, arms, two-feet-long horns (made 
of gourd, the shape of a telescope), buffalo foot-traps, 
slabs for grinding grain, &c., are in the interior. The 
mode of roosting hens is novel ; a five-feet-long stick, 
having three prongs, is stuck into the floor of the 



324 WE REACH A CAMP OF EGYPTIANS. 

house, and the hen hatches upon grass placed upon 
the forks. A custom which we had not before ob- 
served was, that in the early morning a jar of hot 
water was sent us to wash with ; and along with this 
came a present of some beer of the country. 

De Bono's ivory - traders had selected Faloro, a 
favourable position, for their camp, situated on the con- 
cave side of a hill, with a stream below. Our jimction 
with them at sunset of the 3d December was one of 
those happy epochs which can never be forgotten. 
We announced our approach by firing guns when 
within a few hundred yards of the settlement, and a 
very lively scene ensued. Turkish banners flew, wel- 
come guns were fired, and an army of well-dressed 
men, "fezzed'' or turbaned, turned out with drums 
and fifes to greet our arrival and escort us the rest of 
the way. A procession was formed, with music and 
colours in the van, the two commanders with drawn 
sabres went next, and then we followed in our rags of 
clothes, the soldiers bringing up the rear. As we 
passed outside the village enclosure others joined, 
kissing our hands; women shouted shrilly with de- 
light, and we were told to be seated upon a bed 
covered with leopard-skins placed for us in front of 
commander " Mahomed's " door. The traders all knew 
Petherick by name, but they either could not or would 
not tell us anything about him, excepting that he was 
twenty marches away to the north, and that our letter 
sent to him from Unyoro had not been forwarded. 

Everything around us looked strange ; we had be- 
come such " roughs '' that the most common object in 
this semi-civilised life gave us pleasure. Every one 
seemed so well dressed, they had all shoes, regular 



CAMP OF EGYPTIANS. 325 

bedsteads, crockery, &c., none of which we had seen 
for more than two years. The scenes also in a camp 
of Egyptians were new to us. Mahomed, the com- 
mander, seated on a low stool, while being shaved by 
a barber, excited the wonder of the Wanyoro. A 
white napkin being placed on his chest, the boy 
strapped the razor with the rapidity of lightning, and, 
standing with extended arms, passed his instrument 
over the whole head and beard at a frightftd pace, 
handing his master a gilt frame looking-glass when 
the operation was completed. Donkeys were ridden 
at a sharp amble, without saddle or bridle, driven by 
a long stick, and the rider seated in the native fashion 
on the animal's haunches. Riding-oxen, with halters 
and ropes through their noses, were exercised about 
the village by negro lads, who made them go at a fast 
trot. Our bedding and cooking utensils not having 
arrived, we requested Mahomed to have some dinner 
prepared for us. At once he offered a cow, but it was 
late, and we did not wish to wait till it was killed. 
Coffee in true Arab style was served, and an attend- 
ant stood by offering occasionally tin mugs fuU of 
native-made beer. When dinner was ready, a crowd 
squatted beside us, and a woman stood with water to 
drink. The 'repast was minced meat in balls served 
in a tureen, a roast leg of goat in another tureen, honey 
and thin cakes of sorghum ; all looked inviting, and 
we longed to begin. We found, however, that there 
were no spoons, knives, or forks ; and we made the 
most of it without them, and enjoyed an excellent 
dinner, which we had not done for maoy a day. But 
the greatest treat was to come — ^water was brought us 
to wash our hands, and, luxury of all luxuries, soap 1 



326 CAMP OF EGYPTIANS. 

After the repast was finished, we were gratified to find 
that the remains were placed before our Seedees; 
Mabrook was so surprised on receiving a cup fall of 
honey, that he inquired whether it was to be eaten ? 
and after having dined, they all had soap and water 
served to them by one of the Nubians. A large open 
shed was made over to us, but we could not retire to 
rest without a prayer of thankfalness to the Almighty 
for having preserved us through so many diflSculties, 
and at length, by His all-protecting arm, brought us in 
safety to the boundary of civilisation, after twenty-six 
months of unceasing toil and anxiety. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM DECEMBEB 3, 1862, TO JANUARY 11, 1863 — FALORO, LATI- 
TUDE 3** 15' N. — THE TOORKEES OR TURKS — REGIMENTAL 
PARADE— MOONLIGHT DANCE— PRODUCTS OF FALORO— WIIJ) 
ANIMALS — MIANl'S TREE AT APUDDO — AUTHOR HEARS OF 
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN SPEKE — ^PREPARATIONS FOR ENTER- 
ING THE BARI COUNTRT. 

At Faloro we found upwards of a hundred men of 
every Egyptian caste, colour, and costume* They were 
called by the natives of the country "Toorkee,'* or 
Turks ; but there was not a true Turk amongBt them, 
and only one or two European countenances. Curly 
locks were exceptional, and wool predominaterL Tluy 
were adventurers without homes, bom in the m^^Ht 
northern Egyptian dominions from negro stor^L We 
afterwards ascertained that the bazaar at Kliartoum 
was full of such idlers ready for any employ. Ilie 
merchants there engage them to go into the int^^ri/ir 
for the purpose of collecting ivory ; guns are put into 
their hands, an intelligent native i» plac^sd over them, 
and they are sent up the Bahr Abiad (White Nil^r) a« 
ivory-hunters, not to return perhaps for sevtf>ral years. 
These were the men we were so glad to meet, 1/ut frym 



328 OUE LIFE AMONGST THE T00RKEE8. 

whom we found it difficult to get away, although they 
had been at Faloro for nine months previous to our 
arrival. 

The obstacles offered to our departure were many 
and vexatious. The rivers ahead, we were told, would 
not be fordable for two months, and we could not 
cross them without using force ; besides which, a 
party was expected to arrive soon from Gondokoro 
with ammunition and means of carrying down the 
tusks in store, and it must be waited for. This we 
could not assent to. As the streams were getting 
dry and a march was quite practicable, our Wanyoro 
men were ordered to be in readiness, but they had 
deserted to their homes, and we were helpless. Seeing 
that delay was inevitable, we proposed a trip to the 
west, in order that we might have a look at the 
White Nile, which we had left at Karuma Falls. The 
reply, however, was, that there was no use looking at 
the river there, because we shoidd see it two marches 
ahead on the way to Gondokoro. This information was 
afterwards confirmed by our standing on a rocky height, 
from whence the river was seen marked by a long line 
of mist hanging over its course, which ran from the 
west in a north-east direction. The next event that 
startled us was the announcement that a party had 
to go to a district where a quantity of ivory had been 
accumulated, and that on their return we should all 
leave together for Gondokoro. There was nothing for 
it but submission. While we kept their camp eighty 
started on this razzia or raid, bringing back about a 
hundred tusks, a herd of cattle, and several slaves. 
Our importunities to get away were treated as the 
cravings of children, and we were told, " Do not fear, 



A TOORKEE PAEADE. 329 

youTl get to Gondokoro before next moon." We sur- 
prised them, however, by packing up our luggage and 
preparing to start with our remaining twenty Seedees. 
Our residence amongst the Toorkees reminded me 
of a military life, for at break of day the reveille was 
sounded regularly with drum and fife ; at certain 
fixed hours we had more music ; and at night sentries 
were placed the same as in a cantonment. But the 
grand spectacle was their parade every Friday, which 
was equivalent to om: Sunday. We were once re- 
quested to attend and see them manoeuvre, and any- 
thing more ludicrous can hardly be conceived. All 
were drawn up in line, but no two were dressed alike, 
neither had they uniform guns. Captain Mahomed 
stood in fix)nt, with drawn " shumshere,*' in a red 
jacket and loose Turkish trousers, fez, and silk tur- 
ban. His second in command had adopted the rifle 
uniform of green jacket and black braid, loose pyjamas, 
gaiters, and tasselled fez; he also carried a drawn 
sword. Speke was the reviewing officer, aud I stood 
on a height in the distance. Bombay, looking veiy 
dissipated, thought it his duty to stand alongside of 
his master; but his appearance, bare-headed, with a 
dirty shirt worn outside his dress, and holding a spear 
in his hand, betokened a pretty hard morning's car- 
ousing. Oi second inte^reZ Frij, was aL de- 
cidedly tipsy, but had not the sense to remain quiet. 
While the men were marching he would rush wildly 
at them, flourishing his sword-bayonet, then attempt- 
ing to show them how to march, blow his boatswain's 
whistle, repeat the commands, and interfere with the 
commander, who took it all good-naturedly. The 
series of manoeuvres embraced file-marching, forming 



330 TOOBKEES AS SENTEIES. 

square, and open colimms of companies — amoving in 
these formations to any flank, over rough ground, to 
drum and fife music, in slow and quick time. The 
" general-officer," who had served with Turkish troops 
in the Crimea, was, of course, obliged to compliment 
them on their discipline, as their marching and 
shouldering passed muster; but the commander 
seemed to be of a different opinion, as any man who 
lost distance was at once cufied and shoved out of the 
ranks, and when one side of the square faced inwards, 
I thought he would have cut them all down. 

After parade, the standards were planted in the 
open space inside the village, and were there saluted 
by the men marching round them with drums ; or a 
cow was killed and the colours consecrated by putting 
some of the streaming blood upon them or on their 
staffs. This custom was known to our Seedees, who 
had seen it done by the Sultan of Zanzibar's Moham- 
medan troops. During the night sentries were posted 
all over the village, and they performed their duties 
very regularly, never sleeping, although they sat the 
whole of their turn of duty upon a stool or stone. 
This is more than most men could do ; but I watched 
some of them and never saw one fall asleep. Had 
we asked our Seedees to do this, they would have 
laughed at us, showing the difference which discipline 
had made between these two classes of men. The 
Nubians were seldom idle, emplo}dng themselves in 
curing skins, looking after their cattle, or conduct- 
ing household matters ; seeing this, our men at first 
were very shy, appearing like savages amongst them, 
but after ten days the restraint wore off*, and they 
had their usual dances and sport. We could not keep 



TOORKEES AS PLUNDERERS. 331 

them from getting drunk and quarrelling, until, at the 
end of a week, we refrained from speaking to them, 
and then they desisted. One day I saw Frij riding 
with another man upon a bullock, and he offered me 
a ride, thinking I should enjoy it after the long jour- 
ney on foot There were numbers of riding donkeys 
and bullocks in camp. On the detachment making a 
flying march in quest of ivory, &c., the line was par-^ 
aded with a colour on either flank. At the signal of 
one gun all moved off, with the three commanders 
each upon his donkey — the baggage, beads, and anmiu- 
nition on the heads of natives. Before they returned 
from this trip, a native brought us information that 
three villages had been ransacked of their cattle and 
ivory, and that one more was to be swept before their 
return. This was pleasant news for us, their aUies, 
as we now felt we were nothing but spies in the camp 
of a set of land-pirates ! A circumstantial proof of 
this was that their chief banner, embroidered in two 
characters, " Andrea de Bono,'' had been left in camp 
with us. They could not conceal this fact, though they 
tried to keep us in the dark about their movements ; 
neither could they drown the cries of a girl they 
had captured. The story of this young captive was 
curious. Her father had heard and recognised her 
cries, and brought a tusk to offer for her release, 
apologising for the people of his village having fled, 
instead of hospitably entertaining the traders as they 
passed. The child was returned, and a cow given 
along with her. They had many more female than 
male slaves ; but there were numbers of captured boys, 
who, being of naked races, would all their lives be 
ashamed to return to their homes because they had 



332 THE WIVES OF THE TOORKEES. 

been marked by circumcision. Grown-up women, 
generally the best-looking, were prevented j&x)m de- 
serting by having a few rings of solid iron tied be- 
tween each ankle, the links so short that, in fetching 
water fix)m the stream, they could only advance a few 
inches at a time. There were about twenty women 
in this camp of the Unyoro race, distinguishable by 
all the lower incisors being extracted. Our Sendees 
could talk with them, and by this means obtain infor- 
mation for us. Some boys also, who were considered 
more trustworthy than the Nubians, were placed by 
them over their property of beads and ivory. No 
doubt they, as well as many other races, were destined 
for Cairo, and through them information regarding 
the Nile could at any time be obtained. 

The wives of these soldiers were natives of Ban, 
Madi, &c., and very industrious. They might be seen, 
in their only dress of a single petticoat, on their 
knees cleaning what was equivalent to our doorsteps, 
in the early morning, by covering the space with a 
preparation of cow-dung. They kept the interiors of 
the huts very clean, and employed themselves in 
grinding murwa, making beer, baking cakes, or tend- 
ing their infants. The women of the villages carried 
a small knife in their girdle, or stuck into the rings 
of iron worn above the elbow. This was a curious 
practice, but not so Amazonian-like as what was told 
us of a cannibal race nine marches to the north-west, 
where the women carry ten small knives with leather 
handles in each side of their girdle. These they hold 
by the tip of their blades, and throw them at their 
adversary. Our informant remarked, that after his 



NURTURE OF CHILDREN. 333 

leave this cannibal race, they were told, " No, you tiro 
our food, and must not leave us ;" but one shot dis- 
persed them, and they escaped being eaten 1 Ho 
further added that they were not a nude race, neither 
did they keep cattle, but they wore the skins of goat-s. 
A knife which he had brought from Koshce, three 
marches to the west, was formed of one piece of iron, 
and had a round spoon as the handle to its dagger- 
like blade. He probably exaggerated when ho said 
that the people gouged eyes with it When a 
birth took place in the Toorkee camp, drums were 
beaten violently from break of day ; and women as- 
sembled to rejoice at the door of the mother, by dai)- 
ping their hands, dancing, and shouting. Then- danco 
consisted in jumping in the air, throwing out their 
legs in the most uncouth manner, and flapping their 
sides with their elbows. One would have HUpjx^wMl 
the whole to be drunk, but it was their mo<le of wn- 
gratulation. When the mother sufficiently rcr;^>vcr», 
a goat is killed, and she is asked to step over it« 
body, and return again by stepping over ito throat ; 
this operation is repeated* Mothers nurH^^ and t^.'rjd 
their children with the greatest care, washing them 
daily with warm water, and licking their ii%f'j:n Ary an 
a dog would her litter of puppies. AfUcr thii*, the 
body is smeared with a vermilion-colounxl p^miiuh:, 
and the infant is laid upon it«( back on th^^ Kkiii of a 
goat, which forms its cradle. The ffAix coni/fr% ^/f th^; 
skin are then kmAXfA v^ethnr^ an^l th/; chiM u nnup^ 
to sleep while shzng in the Lan^l ^/r ov^^r t)i#; >Ji//uJ/krr. 
When the mr/tber is fAlatrifrhi^ ^Ai^y# th^ Utufhtr \0tiitUiU 
is hong jsym a p^ lu ^ hioah wmy that w^ hk4^ a 
cloak. A Wife of }}^ wuiXiMAHUti^ w^Mi iJuif^^ u 



334 PECULIAE MABKS OF THE TRIBE. 

strange custom with a handful of burning grass. She 
passed it three times round her body from hand to 
hand, while she walked to the left of her doorway. 
The grass was re-lit for her, and the same operation 
was gone through as she walked in front and again 
to the left of her door. The whole was performed 
with perfect solemnity until she saw herself observed, 
when she returned our smile. This ceremony was 
connected with the birth of her child. The women 
of the Bari race cut three horizontal lines on the 
cheeks of their children, and a black oily paste is 
rubbed into the incisions, which axe kept open, liking 
raw and inflamed for ten days. I watched the opera- 
tion upon an intelligent child of two or three years of 
age. Three deep scars were cut on its plump cheeks ; 
fever seemed to ensue, as the little thing lost its 
wonted playfulness and its amusing imitation of the 
mother in her household duties. Ultimately these 
marks become lines of raised skin, and are cut in 
different parts of the body according to tiie race or 
district Some have them in horizonal lines on the 
top of the arm-sockets; others have half-circles on 
the buttocks; and a very common mark seen at 
Faloro amongst the natives, was having the temples 
disfigured by barb-like cuts pointing to the eyes. 

The people of Madi, to whom the village of Faloro 
belongs, did not seem happy under the yoke of the 
Turks. Their head men only showed contentment 
when presented with Arab gowns, pyjamas, &c., and 
they walked about the villages with canes or whips of 
buffalo-hide, like the Turks. However, they had their 
enjoyments of dancing and drinking. Their most 
pleasing performance was when a band of young 



THE DANCES OP MADI. 335 

men, usually about thirty, each with a hand-drum and 
a single stick (looking like kangaroos), danced in a 
circle to a lively quick tune, closing to a centre and 
retiring again at particular parts of their music. 

By moonlight of the 5th December, we witnessed a 
most extraordinary dance in the village above where we 
resided. Some three hundred nude men and women 
were assembled. Six drums, of diflFerent sizes, slung 
upon poles, were in the centre ; around these was a 
moving mass of people, elbowing and pushing one 
another as at a fair, and outside these a ring of girls, 
women, and infants, faced an outer circle of men 
sounding horns, and armed with spears and clubs, 
their heads ornamented with ostrich-feathers, helmets 
of the cowrie-shell, &c. Never had I seen such a 
scene of animated savage life, nor heard a more 
savage noise. As the two large circles of both sexes 
jumped simultaneously to the music, and moved 
round at every leap, the women sang and jingled 
their masses of bracelets, challenging and exciting the 
men facing them to various acts of gallantry; while 
our Seedees joined in the dance, and no doubt 
touched many a fair heart. But although these night 
scenes are enjoyed by the inhabitants as well as the 
Turks, they are during the day oppressed by their 
masters, and compelled by the lash to labour. In- 
stances of this were constantly seen: a Toorkee 
thought nothing of giving a woman a cut with his 
cane if she stood the least in his way; and to escape 
such cruelty, we saw the people removing the 
materiel of villages for a new erection on a spot 
more distant from the Toorkee encampment Any 
information regarding the neighbouring countries 



336 MODE OF CARRYING ELEPHANT-TUSKS. 

could not be obtained, because the natives feared the 
Turks, who in turn were jealous, and asked us what 
business it was of ours to interfere with their sub- 
jects ? They had also their guests who came on 
private affairs. These affairs were generally con- 
nected \\dth razzias for cattle and ivory, which it was 
their object to conceal from us. Having been at 
Faloro for three successive seasons of nine months 
each, the Toorkees had collected an immense store of 
ivory, purchasing it with plundered cattle, and occa- 
sionally with a few beads — sixteen pounds of ivory 
fetching but two strings of large blue beads with cut 
sides. During this their third season, about one 
hundred monster tusks, and three hundred small 
ones, called karashas at Zanzibar (averaging sixteen 
pounds weight each), had been gathered together. 
All these were easily distinguishable from the 
eighteen that had been shot by the party, as they 
were red, and blackened with the flames of fire, 
applied by the natives in extracting the tusk from 
the elephant's head. When about to march, sets of 
tusks were securely lashed together with thong, cut 
in a single continuous stripe from the hide of a cow. 
One man could carry from fifty to sixty pounds 
weight on his head, and when the load was heavier, 
two men carried it slung to a pole between them. 

In discharging our Gani guides by payment of 
beads at Faloro, we gave one of them, in addition, a 
pair of trousers. He at once put all his small beads 
loosely into the pockets, but on sitting down, in his 
usual native manner, the beads kept dropping out, 
causing much laughter amongst us. To make him 
still more happy, Frij tied a turban of red rags round 



KNEE DISEASE IN MADI. 337 

his head, which was much admired ; but the knowing 
African rubbed his arms, as much as to say, " Where 
is the coat ? " This man's father, Chong'ee of Gani, a 
decrepid old man, with wrinkled skin and dull eye. 
had received some small beads in return for a cow he 
presented. They did not satisfy him.-he must have 
others, the ingenious excuse being that he was too 
old to see such small things ! Other beads much less 
valuable, but larger, were instantly given and accepted 
in exchange. 

A common disease amongst the natives was a large 
permanent swelling or growth below the knee-cap of 
one leg or both. Though the size of a cricket-ball, it 
was soft, and did not incapacitate the person from 
sitting, kneeling, or walking, and grown-up women 
seemed more liable to it than the male sex. Dr 
Murie (whom we met at Gondokoro) imagined from 
my description that it might have been brought on 
from exposure to cold. The only death that occurred 
while we were with the Turks was that of one of 
their own number, arising from fever and general 
exhaustion. His funeral took place at sunrise inside 
the village ; a silent mass of soldiers surrounded the 
grave, which was dug within the shell of a hut 
accidentally burnt down a few dajrs previously. And 
on the occasion of this fire, I may remark that we 
were all saved providentially by the stillness of the 
day. The huts being made of grass and bamboo, 
huddled close together — ammunition and property in 
every one of them — and water half a mile distant, 
the alarm was frightful. No one knew what to do, 
as the unmanageable flames burst through the roof, 
or kept creeping onwards for more prey. Nude men 

Y 



338 CATTLE AND PROVISIONS. 

could not approach it ; in their attempts to quench 
the flame, they held skins of animals to screen them 
from the heat, which we in oiu: clothes could hardly 
bear. Its further progress was happily stayed, but 
the hut with all that it contained was soon a heap of 
ashes. 

In December, the people bum down the grass on 
the hills and dales. The black ashes fill the air for 
some days till laid by rain, serving the purpose of 
manure for the following season. The dews are very 
heav}" at this time of the year : one night my knife 
was left on a bank, and next morning it appeared 
rusted all over. After eight in the morning it was 
too hot to walk out with comfort before the after- 
noon; and although no musquito troubled us, the 
place was infested with flies, which stuck to our faces 
and clothes during a morning walk. The small 
stream below the village dried up as our rivulets at 
home do in summer, and, during January, scarcely 
afibrded sufficient water for the cattle. There were 
nine separate herds, and probably fifteen hundred 
cows, to be seen daily. They belonged chiefly to the 
Turks, but the country being overstocked, the animals 
were small and poor, and many of the calves were 
not able to follow the flocks. While housed in the 
villages, each animal was tied to a peg in the ground ; 
and when released, in order that they might be taken 
to graze, all rushed to a salt bank of earth which had 
been scooped out by their tongues. We obtained 
provision here by sending oiu: men with a cow to a 
neighbouring \dllage, where they killed it before the 
natives, who exchanged their grains or vegetables for 
the beef. Very often, when a fowl was required, the 



HANDSOME TREE -CLIMBERS. 339 

natives, though they would not take beads in ex- 
change from us, were obliged to submit to see the 
Turks knock them over with sticks, and walk away 
without payment. The vegetable products were 
tobacco, murwa, a few sweet potatoes, and the stringy 
seed-vessel of a species of mallow, called here bamecu 
The cultivations were all at least a mile away from 
where the people dwelt, probably to allow a cleared 
space for their cattle to range. The field-hoe had a 
handle as long as the English one ; it was large and 
heavy, but preferred to those made in Unyoro, which 
were refused here when ofiered in exchange for sweet 
potatoes. 

As has already been mentioned, the situation chosen 
at Faloro by the Tiurks was a very pleasant one. We 
were surrounded by low hills, the country afforded 
delightful rambles by rocky streams, through forests, 
and over downs, with distant prospects. The plants 
gathered were many of them new and interesting. A 
plum-tree, having fruit larger than the green-gage, 
was found in the woods, and large black caterpillars 
of great beauty, armed with rows of white porcupine- 
like spikes, fed upon its leaves. A species of silver 
bush {Protea sp.), its flowers spread out like a silvery 
sunflower, with its scaly calix a pink colour under- 
neath, was interesting. A tree-climber {Landolphia 
Jlorida ?) lay with its trunk winding like a huge snake, 
and then serving as a bridge to the streauL If traced 
further, you found it had mounted a lofty tree, and 
spread itself into innmnerable branches, covering with 
luxuriant white flowers the highest foliage. The 
natives of Uhiyow convert its milk into playing-balls, 
like those of india-rubber, and consider the rubber 



340 SUPEHSTITIOUS OBSEBVANCES. 

superior in quality to that obtained from another tree, 
M'pira, which has not such adhesive properties, 

A very handsome branched lily {Crinum sp) was 
one day brought in by Speke, who had found it on 
the bank of the stream-bed. We could find no other 
in flower, but succeeded in preserving and bringing 
home this single specimen, which is now in the Kew 
herbarium. Later — probably by February — their 
bulbs would throw out fresh shoots for the year. A 
variety of resinous trees were also found — Sostvellia, 
Balsamodendron, Khaya, Soymida, &c. 

Trees of the " Sheabutter," and others of similar di- 
mensions, sometimes had diminutive seats placed 
against their trunks, with the ashes of fire alongside. 
The seats had been placed there for some idolatrous 
purpose, to produce rain or probably to remove sick- 
ness. The only other trace of superstition we saw was 
in front of the chief entry to the village. Here a 
slab, two feet out of the ground, with a circular hole 
across, faced the entry in an upright position. A pole 
with a branch of the meelalla palm (Borassiis) flying 
from its tip, was planted alongside it. 

We had no sport at Faloro, killing only one bush- 
boc, which we found feeding in the jungle of sweet 
pasture and shrubs by a stream. Further up, amongst 
rocks, we saw two descriptions of monkeys— one the 
Lungoor, with black face and bushy head of hair, 
which barked angrily at us ; and the " Yanee *' — so 
called by our Seedees — a smaller monkey, red behind, 
and said to be so vicious that he will return a spear 
thrown at him I Both were wild, and changed their 
ground so often that we did not obtain a shot. The 
way the Turks have of inflating a sheep or goat after 



BUSTARD Al^D OTHER GAME-BIRDS. 341 

it has been killed appeared strange to our Zanzibar 
Seedees. A rattan was passed, from an incision in 
the hock, to the stomach ; air was blown in, not witli 
a bellows as in France, but from the mouth, till the 
animal became distended. Where the air had not 
reached, a passage was made for it by striking the 
part, and the skin by this method was drawn oflF with 
greater facility. 

The bustard, or "cock of the woods,'' was occasionally 
marked down. On starting him he would get up with 
the usual hurried flight and noise, make a majestic sweep 
over the woods, and disappear in low ground, or, fold- 
ing his wings, alight on some cultivated spot. He is 
a noble bird, with rich game plumage, and nearly the 
size of a vulture. The other game-birds were chiefly 
quaU and guinea-fowl, but our supply of shot bcmg 
almost finished, we did not disturb them. Flocks of 
guinea-fowl were running in the fields three marches 
north of Faloro. I had never before seen them so 
numerous ; but they were wild, being killed by the 
inhabitants with bow and arrow. A few rooks, with 
peculiarly short tails, were now and then observed. 
They took swift cutting flights from tree to tree, call- 
ing like crows, and cleverly evading the darts made 
at them by kites. 

We left Faloro on the 11th of January 1863, our 
loads being carried by our remaining Seedees, twenty 
in number. We then travelled without the Turks for 
a few days to the north, and were joined by their 
headquarters on the 31st In this interval we em- 
ployed the time in shooting over the desolate-look- 
ing undulations of grass jungle. Rhinoceros, bufialo, 
gnamaera^ n'soono, &c., were killed; and elephant. 



342 GIRAFFE — crocodile's EGGS. 

giraffe, eland, pig, the white-eared antelope of Peth- 
erick, and other smaller fauna, were observed. The 
natives would not eat the rhinoceros. Giraffe were 
numerous, but very wild, they being in open cover, over 
which they could, by means of their long necks, see 
the sportsman. Nothing is more handsome than their 
bright-yellow black-spotted skin when seen shining 
in the morning sun ; but as you approach to shooting 
distance they canter away like camels and lash their 
sides with their tails. Gnamaera or hartebeest are 
also most provoking animals to stalk ; they allow 
you to approach within three or four hundred yards, 
when they wheel round wdth a whisk of their tails, 
take a canter, and turn back to look at you. The 
Turks shot a crocodile, and carried him into camp to 
extract his teeth, which are used by the natives of 
Madi as necklaces. They are like the long incisors 
of a sheep, and being pierced, are strung to be worn 
on the neck. Most of the Turks ate of the croco- 
dile, but our Zanzibar men regarded it with disgust. 
We ate their eggs to breakfast ; and although they 
were sweet and good without any particular flavour, 
we had no desire to try another. Ninety-nine of 
them liad l)een found buried a foot under ground in 
the sandy bed of a stream, all laid in very neat order. 
They were longer and larger than the eggs of a turkey, 
pure white, and uniformly shaped at both ends, with 
one-third of them an air-chamber. 

The stream below the village of Apuddo, where we 
encamped for several days, had cut a wide channel 
through the plain. Observing some shining scales on 
its sandy shore, they so much resembled gold that I 
thought I had made a discovery, and washed the sand 



MAGNETIC IRON ORE. 343 

for several hours. The result was, glistening black 
sand resembling iron filings, and a mixture of these 
gold scales, probably mica, but which remain to be 
analysed. ( Vide Appendix B.) While at this operation 
of digging, a number of bees of the ordinary size came 
round me, and I could observe them alighting on the 
sand to enter burrows they had made. They were of 
two colours, green and yellow, the latter predominat- 
ing, and barred with black stripes. A few inches 
underground, a cocoon of the tender leaves of the 
Stereospermum sp. — a tree with pink-white blossom 
— was found neatly wrapped round some scented yel- 
low substance, having the faintest taste of honey. It 
may have been liquid wax, as the natives told me tliat 
the bees ultimately transport this preparation to their 
hives. But the curious thing was to see it lying in the 
wet sand, and almost in water, probably put there to 
keep it cool from the hot winds. The natives dig wells 
in the sand and take their drinking water from them. 
At first we imagined they had been digging for gold, as 
numerous little pits were in the ground, each with a 
tumblerful of water; but we observed that the natives 
filled their earthen " gurrahs " from them in preference 
to taking water from the running stream close by. 

The strong barricade of sticks and logs placed 
round the villages had numerous openings for en- 
trance. At night these were closed by pulling thorny 
bushes into them ; and during the day one had to 
stoop to gain entrance. Even their women, when 
carrying a pitcher of water on their heads, were ob- 
liged to go on their knees to pass inside the village. 
The huts had not room for a camp-bed, not being of 
greater diameter than seven feet ; but, luckily, at this 



344 THE PEOPLE CONFIDE IN US- 

season, quantities of ripe grass were stacked for thatch- 
ing purposes, and we could alwajrs get a temporary 
shed made to shelter us from the sun. The inhahi- 
tants of Panyoro, on seeing our small party arrive, 
showed a disinclination to admit us inside their vil- 
lages, and the Turks tried to dissuade us from living 
there; but in our previous travels we had always 
fraternised with the natives, and wished to make no 
difference in the present case. The consequence was 
that the people confided in us, bringing their property 
to be placed in concealment under our beds lest the 
Turks should come and rob them. They also gave us 
small presents of milk, flour, ears of grain, &c. ; and 
one chief kindly brought us a basin of soup and a 
mess of porridge. The soup was very nitrous in taste, 
too much salt of the country having been used 
Another dish they had was a mixture of uncooked 
flour and water, savoured with the fruit of a date-sized 
plum, the Balanites ^gyptica, Dal. The chiefs had 
a singular mode of salutation, which the common 
people did not venture to copy ; they took our hands 
successively in theirs, lifted them up as high as they 
could, and then allowed them to drop. This custom 
was never seen in Unyoro, Uganda, or south of the 
equator ; and although the hands of the chiefs were 
not very clean, we were glad to submit to the cere- 
mony. After the natives had become familiar with us 
by our shooting animals for them, they got up dances 
similar to the Madi *' quadrille." The men held spears 
over the heads of the women, pointed their elbows at 
them, and bent their heads to the right and left in 
time to the drum-music. The Toorkees did not join 
our men in these dances ; they were encamped outside 



LETTERS CUT ON A TAMARIND -TREE. 345 

the villages, and thought it was too much like savage 
life, and beneath them, to participate in the festivities. 

As there is no conveyance in the country except by 
porters, the Turks found it very difl&cult to get their 
two hundred loads of ivory carried. The natives on 
several occasions refused to aid them, saying they were 
not slaves to be made to carry their property. Re- 
sistance being continued, active hostilities were re- 
sorted to, and disastrous results ensued. What be- 
tween the firing of guns and discharge of arrows, three 
Toorkees were wounded, fifteen natives were killed, 
and seven made prisoners, the village was burned to 
the ground, and about one hundred cattle captured ! 
This was told us by some Seedees we sent back to 
find why the Tiurks were not coming to join the party. 
The women captured on these occasions remain the 
property of the captor, while all cattle and ivory must 
be shared by the master and his soldiers. 

Within sight of Apuddo stands a tamarind -tree, 
three or four miles from the right bank of the Nile, at 
3' 34^' N. lat. and 32" K long. The Turks informed 
us that a European had, two years previously, accom- 
panied them from Gondokoro as far as this point, and 
had returned to Egypt from hence, because the rains 
were heavy, and he had not sufficient escort to push 
further soutL They did not know his name, but they 
described him as having a long beard, and said we 
should find his name cut upon the tree. My notes on 
the 1st February 1863 are as follows regarding it : "I 
visited the tree on which a Eiuropean had cut some 
letters, but they were so indistinct, that I walked 
twice round it before I could distinguish them, — they 
were grown over with a thorny creeper and bark, and 



346 MIANl's TREE. 

had been merely scratched in the wood- They ap- 
peared like — Al AA ; the centre letters were I and A, 
and the outer ones either A without the stroke, or part 
of W. Nails seem to have been extracted, and to read 
it properly, I had to stand upon some lower branches." 
I at once concluded that the traveller was not English, 
because his letters were not deeply cut into the tree as 
an Englishman would have done it, and also because the 
letters were curiously formed. The illegible letters with- 
out strokes were scored in thus — AA, — as a foreigner 
writes the capital letter M. Not until wo reached 
Khartoom did we find out for certain who this traveller 
must have been. HLs name was Ml AN I (3^Iiani), a 
native of Venice, who has protested against our Nile 
being the proper Nile, because we have placed his tree 
in a position of latitude and longitude (obtained by 
daily observations) difierent to what he made it, with- 
out scientific instruments. His assertion is bold, con- 
sidering the above evidence ; but as M. Miani is trying 
to organise another expedition, I have no doubt he vnH 
discover, and perhaps ultimately acknowledge, his error. 
In the mean time, Mr S. Baker will in all likelihood 
have passed the spot, and taken the exact position of 
the tree and river. The Nile at S^"* N. lat., had quite 
changed tlie wild character it possessed at Karuma 
Falls. Its banks were tame and flat, with but few 
trees. The opposite, or left bank, rose into three 
blocks of lofty bare hills, almost mountains, called 
" Jubl Kookoo." Round their north-east bluff* end the 
majestic NQe made a sweeping turn from the west to 
the north; and looking down the stream from this 
point, the scene appeared wild and romantic like the 
Highland Pass of Glencoe. 



AUTHOR HEABS OF THE DEATH OF OAPT. SPEKE. 347 



At this point of my narrative I was arrested 
by startling intelligence : the first dark cloud 
connected with our African journey had sud- 
denly appeared. In a moment, without warn- 
ing, the devoted leader of the expedition was 
cut ofi* in his prime, and just as he had told the 
wondrous tale of his adventurous life ! On 
the 1 7th of September, when engaged as usual 
in transcribing from my Journal, my apartment 
was entered by my brother-in-law, the Rev. 
Peter Mackenzie, whose countenance wore an 
unusual expression of grief. It was to break to 
me the sad news that my fellow-traveller — poor 
Speke — ^had been shot by the accidental dis- 
charge of his own gun. I could not realise the 
fact. Could he possibly be dead ? Was there 
no hope ? The telegraph gave us none. A few 
days only had elapsed since he and his brother 
invited me to their home in Somersetshire to 
be present at the meeting of the British Asso- 
ciation at Bath, and had I gone thither and 
been with my friend, this calamity might have 
been averted. Innumerable such thoughts hur- 
ried through my mind on the first shock of the 
melancholy tidings. It was hard to believe that 
one who had braved so much had thus fallen, 
and that his career of usefulness was run! I 
reproached myself for having sUently borne all 
the taunts and doubts thrown upon his great 
discovery, the truth of which will ultimately be 
acknowledged by all but those determined to 



348 CAPTAIN SPEKE. 



caviL We had corresponded on the subject, 
and agreed that controversy on my part was 
to be avoided. Any attempt of the kind might 
only weaken his cause, and I felt that no asser- 
tions of mine were necessary to bear out the facts 
which he had recorded. Truth in time would 
conquer, and bear down all gainsayers, while that 
grand reservoir of twenty thousand miles — ^the 
Victoria Nyanza, with its fountains and tribu- 
taries — would speak for itself. Knowing that 
on our travels my attention was more directed to 
the habits of the people than to the geography 
of the country, he expressed a wish that I should 
write an account of our camp life in Africa. I 
complied, and part of this narrative lay on his 
table on the day of his deatL It now goes forth 
without his revision or suggestions — a public 
loss ; for my fellow-traveller had a thorough 
knowledge of the country, loved its inhabitants, 
was a practical ornithologist, and would have 
aided me with his views on all topographical 
questions. Added to a singular adaptation for 
the work he had made choice of, — arising part- 
ly from his imperturbable temper and great 
patience, — Captain Speke was, in private life, 
pure-minded, honourable, regardless of self, and 
equally self-denying, with a mind always aim- 
ing at great things, and above every littleness. 
He was gentle and pleasing in manner, with 
almost childlike simplicity, but at the same 
time extremely tenacious of purpose. This was 



CAPTAIN SPEKE. 349 



strikingly displayed in his recent eflForts to pro- 
secute his work in Africa, which, had he lived, 
he would ultimately have accomplished. But 
God has ordained it otherwise. His will be 
done I To Captain Speke's mourning relatives 
and friends, there remams the consolation that 
though he died in the prime of life, he had at- 
tained to immortal fame, and now rests in his 
own beautiful native district, lamented by all 
who knew him, and a brilliant example to the 
youth of future generations. His remains were 
laid with those of his ancestors in the family 
vault of the parish church; and had the toll 
of the funeral bells reached the shores of the 
Nyanza as it touched the hearts of those in 
the valley of Ilminster, there is one at least 
— ^the King of Uganda — ^who would have shed 
a tear for the untimely death of the far-distant 
traveller who had sought and found his protec- 
tion. I must now resume the course of my 
nairative, which haa been so painfuUy inter- 
rupted. 



At Apuddo gales blew hot and powerful enough to 
melt any number of glaciers. The "Kousee" wind 
from the N.E., carrying dust with it, blew as if through 
a funnel during the latter half of January ; it was no 
doubt reflected with greater violence on account of the 
proximity of the Jubl Kookoo range of mountain to 
our N.W. WhQe sheltered from its blasts we perspired 
profusely ; but by sunset it had lulled away, and we 



350 VILLAGE OF APUDDO. 

were able to walk about with comfort. A coat was 
then bearable, and duiing the night we wore sheets 
of serge to keep us warm. Rain was noted in my 
journal on the 12th of January from the N.K, and 
another note mentions at this time, wind "all day 
N.N.W., blowing with great freshness.'' 

Provisions — namely, koonde, murwa, and jowari — 
were scarce and dear in the villages opposite Jubl Koo- 
koo duriiig the month of Januar}', which was their win- 
ter season. Large figs, called MTiooyoo, though thick- 
skinned and full of seeds, were now sweet and palatable. 
No crops were seen growing — all looked desolate 
wastes and covers. Even the stream which flowed 
past Apuddo, for three miles up its tortuous course had 
not a thicket to mark its windings through the plain. 
The banks dropped straight do\ni fifteen feet to its 
sandy bed, which was sometimes broken by grass- 
topped and fissured rocks, and in places by ridges of 
rock, making a cataract or waterftdl. Above this, in 
one reach two hundred yards long, the water lay deep 
and almost still, teeming with fish two and three feet 
in length. We had no means of catching them, and 
the natives did not use nets, but most likely they had 
basket-traps. 

The people dwelt in villages surrounded by pali- 
sades. Some of these villages contained two hundred 
souls, young and old. It would not be considered 
safe to have a much smaller settlement, as their neigh- 
bours to the east, the Kidi, would come down to 
plunder them of their herds of cattle. We observed 
a leper with white hands and limbs. Whether he had 
succeeded by right to his position of "M'koongoo," 
or head of a district, or whether from being looked 



CURIOUS NECK ORNAMENTS. 351 

upon as a favourecl man he was elected president, we 
could not say, but the latter is not unlikely ; for the 
natives of Africa have a respect for men with spotted 
skins. The Turks generally applied to us for medical 
advice. One day a tooth had to be drawn; a rag 
was tied round each half of a pair of scissors, and I 
had to make these answer all the purpose of a forceps. 
Again, a disease which very much resembles diph- 
theria, and which was said to be fatal unless cut, was 
treated in an odd way. The patient had a white 
abscess in the throat, and it required to be cut They 
had no instrument for the purpose, and we had only 
a penknife, and there was further the difficulty of 
reaching the seat of the disease. The natives, how- 
ever, are ingenious ; they pulled out the tongue so far 
that a hair noose could be put round the abscess, and 
it was then cut, much to the poor man's relief, who 
speedily recovered. 

It has been mentioned that the people of Madi 
wear the teeth of crocodiles as neck ornaments. The 
natives of Bari do the same, and the pearly white 
colour of the teeth is most becoming to their deep 
bronze complexions. Another ornament seen here 
was new to us : the thigh-bones of sheep and rats 
were pierced at one end, and slimg from the neck. 
I had seen nothing like this since leaving Delagoa 
Bay, where the Zulu Kaffirs, called in Central Africa 
"Watuta," wear bones, birds -feet, &c., as charms 
round the neck 

On the 1st of February 1863, we marched in a 
caravan or troop of no less than three hundred souls 
from our camp at Apuddo to some villages fifteen 
miles distant on the route to Gondokoro. Having to 



352 FORDING THE RIVER ASUA. 

cross the river Asua, a wild rocky torrent, the journey 
occupied six hours and forty minutes, our escort con- 
sisting of two hundred ivory-carriers, the Toorkees, 
their wives, women, slaves, donkeys, cattle, &c. The 
route lay above the right bank of the Nile, and al- 
though the country was uninhabited, I do not recol- 
lect ever making a more interesting march. At the 
fourth mile, and to the west, we heard from the 
heights on which we stood the White Nile sounding 
below us, like the ocean, but we could not see it until 
we had proceeded two miles further. The beautiful 
noble stream was breaking now and then into foam 
upon hidden rocks ; or running at the rate of about 
four miles an hour past islands so laden with trees and 
vegetation that we could only partially discern lie 
opposite bank, and obtain occasional glimpses of the 
river. On our side we had several species of acacia, 
the double black thomed and the white ; with other 
trees in lilac bloom, wild figs, &c. ; and, had the un- 
derwood of thorny scrub been cleared away, the place 
might have been deemed a paradise. The ivory-car- 
riers marched steadily onwards, but I longed for the 
halt, that we might have a drink of the water that 
appeared so inviting. At the eighth mile a happy 
break in the thicket gave us this opportunity; and 
we who had traced the stream from the Victoria 
Nyanza were so glad to see our Uganda acquaintance 
once more, that we addressed it in the language of 
that country, exclaiming, " Awangeh 1 awangeh ! '' — 
old friend 1 old friend ! While resting on the rocky 
bank, the views across, up or down the river, were of 
great interest. At our feet, by the side of a foaming 
rapid, fish rose like porpoises, showing their backs in 



THE RIVEES NILE AND ASUA. 353 

a whirling black pool, where reeds, rushes, branches, 
and logs floated about, making it impossible for any 
but an adept to attempt fly-fishing The shore was 
strewed with fish-scales, and remnants of fires showed 
that the natives had been enjoying dinner at an ap- 
propriate spot. Looking across, an island, covered 
with grass and aquatic vegetation, hid the other 
branch of the river. For a quarter of a mile at this 
point no boat could live at any season ; it would be 
dashed to pieces on the bed and sides of sunken rock ; 
and the immense body of water is so strong that no 
boat could saU up it. Looking down stream, the 
river ran in a deep one-sided gorge, the left bank 
being the Jubl Kookoo range, forming a straight 
barrier of escarped hills, probably two thousand feet 
in height. They were bleak and barren, diminishing 
in size and breaking into cones as they receded into 
the blue distance to the north. At the ninth mile of 
this march, we suddenly dropped into the bed of the 
Asua river, and crossed to its right bank. Our first 
remark was, " Is this the Asua we have heard so much 
of?" The fording was fifty yards across, waist deep 
in the strong middle current over sharp slippery rocks, 
painful for bare feet. The water was good, though 
not refreshing nor transparent ; it ran through fivc- 
feet-high rushes {Cyperus lo7igus)y on the right shore. 
During December, this river, judging from the appear- 
ance of sand lying above its present water-mark, must 
be a wild torrent, impossible to cross; but we were 
disappointed with its small appeaxaace when we came 
to ford it Our large cortege amused themselves for 
two hours in crossing the cattle and laden donkeys, 
and in bathing. At this place I saw the brutal 

z 



354 THE NILE AT S"* 47' N. LAT. 

nature of the ivory-traders. One of them, in getting 
upon his laden bullock, mounted so awkwardly, that 
he tilted the load over to one side, and the animal 
would not start with him. He belaboured it on the 
head with a loaded life-preserver, till the poor animal 
sat down. Immediately he dismoimted, and in rage 
put a bullet through its head ; and the men aroimd 
him cut off the hump and legs to carry with them as 
food, while the owner sat gloomily apart looking on : 
anything more revolting I never saw. Having forded 
the river we encamped in a village, the inhabitants fly- 
ing at our approach. We had been from simrise to sun- 
set on the road, having passed several deserted villages 
and a jungle of thorny wood. The path along which 
we had travelled was on the top of vertical strata, point- 
ing to the north-west. It was of slaty blue rock, cleaved 
into loose squares and oblongs, with quartz veins. 

One morning I walked, along with three of our 
Seedees, due west for two hours, to have another look 
at the Nile. We tried to get guides from the villages, 
but after promising they generally slimk back into 
their huts. However, when approaching the river, 
past the dwellings, I induced a native to give me 
tobacco, when an escort of about forty men, well 
armed with bows, spears, and handfuls of arrows, 
accompanied me to the water's edge. For two miles 
the calm river ran in a straight reach, unbroken, as 
far as I remember, by rock or cataract Its breadth 
appeared to be about eighty yards, and the current 
four miles an homr ; both banks were dead-level, and 
of stiff clay. Beyond these, rather barren hills rose 
abruptly. While sitting on the bank, my feet almost 
touched the water ; and the level ground was dotted 



CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. 355 

with tamarinds, fig, palm, plum, and jujube trees, the 
soil itself being then, in parts, lying under cultivation. 
The people had a ferry-boat — ^that is, a log of wood 
scooped out to form a boat ; and they tied together 
large bimdles of the jowari straw, and ferried over 
upon them, I had never seen this before, but further 
down the Nile it is a common practice. On my 
way back firom this excursion, the villagers at several 
places invited me to partake of milk, and the guide, 
on being rewarded with a single string of beads, in a 
coaxing and familiar manner asked for another. One 
of the Seedees whom we had picked up in the heart 
of Africa^ was convicted at this encampment of Madi 
of having stolen a cloth belonging to a Toorkee with 
whom he Uved. The ofience was a grave one, bringing 
dishonour upon our Zanzibar party; he, therefore, 
™ awarfedVl-kes. B^^^l^ni^^ forty 
with a whip of buffalo-hide, and Frij the remaining 
ten. The offender, after receiving the first few lashes, 
cried, " Kill me 1 kill me 1 " meaning that death was 
preferable to the pain ; but little Bombay, who was 
flogging him, said, "Are you a woman that you scream 
in that way V The fellow was at once silenced ; but 
though his back was scarred, he ate his dinner before 
us and carried a load the following day. He was a 
hardened culprit, and deserted fix)m us in Egypt, after 
being detected in stealing from a comrade. 

The sick of this district of Madi were not allowed 
to reside within the enclosure of the village ; but huts 
or hospitals were erected outside for all who were 
diseased. It was curious to find such a civilised pre- 
caution taken in Africa. But the huts were also re- 
markable for neatness and cleanliness ; bamboos were 



356 SHELLS, THE COINAGE OF THE MADL 

numerous, so that they had the material for making 
themselves comfortable. The floors were of red clay, 
packed hard, and the thresholds of the doors the same, 
but paved or macadamised, with fragments of earthen- 
ware neatly inlaid. Many of the doorwajrs had gate- 
posts, with bamboos as movable bars, which prevented 
goats or cattle entering. Upon the grass tops of the 
huts in Barwudi numbers of large univalve shells lay 
bleaching ; they were the same large, spiral species 
as those seen five degrees south of the equator. The 
natives cut them into circles the size of shirt-buttons, 
and string hundreds of them to be worn as ornamental 
white girdles round the waist They formed the or- 
dinary coinage, and if beer or fowls were required they 
were used in the purchase. The value of labour was 
estimated in cows. The porters engaged by De Bono's 
party to carry their ivories were paid one small cow 
each for a journey of fomr marches, and they were ex- 
pected to carry a return load ; so that travelling in 
these parts is a difficult matter, unless you have plenty 
of camel and donkey carriage : the hire is always paid 
beforehand. It was amusing to observe the distribu- 
tion of the cattle, but it presented much the same 
scene as that witnessed at home in a cattle-market 
Here the naked natives, mingling with the well- 
dressed Toorkees, as soon as they received their " one- 
cow hire," chased it away to be tied up in some secure 
place till their journey was completed. On arrival at 
one of the villages, I asked the Sheikh what his beer 
was like ; he made no reply, but at midnight he stole 
into our camp, passing our Seedee sentries, who were 
fast asleep, tapped Speke on the head, and then shook 
his hand to awake him. Speke immediately called 



COXSEQUEXCES OF COERCIOX. Xu 

Frij, to find what the old man meant by coming at 
such an hour, when it appeared that he had brought 
us a taste of his beer. It seemed raw and spiritlosa, 
but as soon as the sun had risen, the old Sheikh gen- 
erously brought us a large jar full of the beverage. 

The coimtry was populous : but in this month of 
February, though displaying pretty undulations or 
downs, dotted with shady tamarind and fig trees, and 
though the double-coned hills have wooded tops, all 
had a parched appearance. Tlie brooks wen*, dry. 
During several of our marches we met with no stream, 
and what water was obtained was procured by digging 
holes in the dry and rocky beds. Sometimes wild- 
fruits would refresh us, such as the fig ; it was the 
size of a strawberry pippin, and tasted excellent. Tlio 
natives gathered quantities of the fruit of a Cucur 
bitdcece, the size and shape of a fowl's egg : its yellow 
rind was dried and eaten by them. Their grain thc^y 
stored in separate houses from their dwellings, and 
built or placed them upon a few piles of wwkI or 
rough pillars of stone. On arrival in a village th(; 
Toorkee always made his way to these stores for the 
purpose of pillaging. On my desiring one of th^jm to 
desist, he coolly laughed; but Bombay succecfled }}fitU^r 
with him. As soon as our caravan arrive^! at a village 
for the day, the Turks formed camp outside of it Ijy re- 
moving the roofs of the houses, and making their ownfrrs 
carry them for them ! If resktance was shown, the \mttr 
end of the musket was applied to the poor owner, m the 
muzzle of the gun was presented to his stoma^;h. (>ne 
consequence of this system of coercion and plunder was 
that, whenever the people of Mad i or Ban bad the ojijir/r- 
tunity, they retaliated and stole from the Turks fre^;ly. 




358 GAME — WEAPONS — EAKTHENWAKE OF MADL 

The country was too open and populous for game. 
Along our route we saw none; but the men often 
wore ornaments of the wild boar's curved tusk. This 
was tied with a thong above each elbow, and looked 
very jaunty on their well-formed arms. Their spears 
were some inches taller than most men can stretch, 
with handles of bamboo and handsomely-shaped iron 
blades. Each was shod with a sharp point of iron, or 
had its end like the leaded end of an Indian hog- 
spear. Their iron weapons were of superior construc- 
tion, and were chiefly made on the spot, as there were 
traces of smelting. The earthenware was very ordin- 
ary; but we remarked an imusual article of luxury, 
a strainer actually of earthenware — ^the only civilised 
bit of crockery we had seen since leaving Zanzibar : 
it was chiefly used for straining beer. The perennial 
cotton-bush grew 8 feet high, without irrigation, close 
to the houses; the pods^ thick and numerous, were 
now ripening. Three or four bushes give sufficient 
cotton to each family for aU the use made of it ; the 
women dye it brown, and make their scanty dress — 
waist-belts and tails — of the fibre. The men practised 
archery a good deal, placing a number of the large 
seed-vessels of Kigelia pinnata on end and aiming 
at them at 40 and 50 yards' distance. They must 
be practised shots, as a villager was' brought us in a 
sinking state with an arrow-mark in his side. The 
wound was covered up, and plastered aU over with 
leaves — ^their remedy for everything. He had, in all 
probability, been struck by a poisoned arrow, as they 
sometimes use these in MadL 

We had very little sickness, and aU were in high 
glee at the thought of going to Egypt in boats. Some 



ma>xa's plans for retiring. 359 

men had arrived from Gondokoro reporting that three 
boats were lying there ; we concluded they must be 
those of Frith, Petherick, and De Bono, and we were 
delighted at the prospect of meeting Petherick. The 
time we were detained by the Toorkees, because they 
had difficulty in procuring porters to carry their ivory 
to Gondokoro, was occupied in botanising or gossiping 
with our men, Manua, the " Man of the Moon,'' was 
forming his plans as to what he would do after he 
got paid for the journey. He said, very truly, that 
Zanzibar life would not suit him ; he could not afford 
it ; because if he retired there, he would have to pay 
for water, food, drink, clothing, and house-room. His 
plan, therefore, was to purchase beads and cloths and 
take them for sale to his native land of Unyamuezi — 
a resolution which shows the mercantile nature of his 
race. This little fellow was very intelligent^ and a 
great traveller. He talked in high praise of his late 
king, Foondeekeera, and was quite in raptures when 
he mentioned his name. It seems that before the 
king's death a man and woman were suspected of 
having worked an enchantment upon him, and they 
were slain ; but the king died nevertheless ; none of 
his wives were buried with him, and a house was 
built over the grave. The chief of Wakeembwah, to 
the west of Unyamuezi, is laid in the bed of a small 
stream when he dies, and fifty living women (his 
wives), and fifty men, are tied to frames and drowned 
in the same stream to commemorate the event. Their 
race practise the rite of circumcision, which is excep- 
tional in Central Africa. 

Between the district of Madi and Gondokoro tiiere is 
a tract of country 40 miles long, inhabited by the Bari, 



360 TRAITS OF SEEDEE CHARACTER. 

who axe the terror of all ivory-traders, as they are an 
independent and powerful race of people. In passing 
through their country we were told that our guns 
should always be at hand, that we should not drink 
any water, as it was poisoned, and, above aU, that we 
should move across the country in a compact body, 
and not in procession. On seeing the nipple of Bom- 
bay's gun blown out, I inquired how he was to get 
through the Bari? — was the gun safe to fire in its 
patched state ? Oh yes, he'd fire it, because the gun 
was strong — ^it had stood the proof of three cartridges ! 
How was that ? " It's some time ago now; but Ubede, 
Abdulla, and a man who deserted, had a spite at me, 
and each of them put a cartridge into this gun, thinking 
it would blow my head oS, but the nipple was only 
blown out." He was such an excellent little fellow 
that he never told us this when it happened; and 
when asked whether he had suspected his enemy Bar- 
aka to have played him this trick, he generously re- 
plied, "No, I never suspected him." One other in- 
stance of the Secdee character may be mentioned 
before giving an account of our travels through the 
Bari people. Our cook boy, M'kate, a very tall good- 
looking lad, ever obliging and good-hmnoured, one 
day left a cooking-pot twelve miles behind. He was 
admonished by Frij, and took the matter so much to 
heart that he travelled back for it alone that same day 
and returned during the night, having recovered the 
old pot, which was certainly not worth the journey. 
It only proves what men will do with kind treat- 
ment ; he was not asked to go back, and had walked 
by himself thirty-six miles through a strange country. 



CHAPTER XV. 

PASSAGE THROUGH THE BARI — POISONED STREAMS — GONDOKORO 
— ^MEETING WITH MR SAMUEL BAKER — ME AND MRS PETHE- 
RICK ARRIVE AT GONDOKORO — TRADE AND TRADERS— THE 
NILE AND MODE OF FERRYING IT — EMBARK IN BAKER'S 
BOATS FOR KHARTOOM. 

The Ban country was a series of gently sweUing 
downs, sloping to the Nile a few miles to our left 
The downs were covered with grass now ripe and 
only a foot high. During the bright midday sun, 
with a fresh, hot breeze, the grass, when set on fire, 
bums with alarming rapidity ; but in the darkness of 
night, when the air was still, it burned quietly but 
brilliantly, and we dined by its light : no theatrical 
footlights or exhibition of fireworks could compare 
with the brilliancy of the consuming flame. Densely 
foliaged tamarinds covered with ripe fruit, wild plum, 
sheabutter, and several other umbrageous trees scat- 
tered over the landscape, gave it the appearance of an 
English park, for here no palms nor other tropical 
genera were to be seen. We had to step over num- 
bers of running rivulets whose channels and banks 
were generally of rock. In the rainy season these 
torrents must be difficult to cross, as they have all 



362 BARI MEN AND WOMEN. 

worn deep beds for themselves ; but now in fording 
the largest they only reached to the knee, and with 
bare feet we enjoyed the wading. Their waters were 
rather insipid and tasteless. 

We dared not rest at any of the Bari villages, as 
the Toorkees distrusted the people; but Bookhait, 
the second in command of the traders, beckoned 
to a Bari, and he frankly joined us. He was a 
tall, erect, thin man, naked from head to foot, but 
with all the airs of a well-dressed beau, for his 
body was smeared with a red clay pomade. Above 
each elbow he wore a massive ring of ivory, upon one 
shoulder he carried a diminutive stool of one piece of 
solid dark wood, and he had a rope-sash which pos- 
sessed a five-finger-like charm ; he was unarmed. Next 
morning he brought into camp a very fine tusk, for 
which he received in exchange a female goat and its 
kid — cheap ivory certainly. The women wore each 
a long apron of leather to the knee and a separate 
broader one of sewn leather behind : these skins they 
colour with clay, and they seem to wear no ornaments; 
however, there was not much opportunity for obser- 
vation on our part^ as they ran away on observing us 
watch them. It seems strange that these people, who 
for the last thirty years have been only from twenty 
to thirty miles distant from the Austrian mission-sta- 
tion at Gondokoro, should still be so wild ; but the 
missionaries state that the ivory trade has spoiled the 
country for civilisation, and whenever the inhabitants 
see a foreigner, white or black, they look upon him as 
an enemy, come for no other purpose than to seize 
cattle or whatever else he can. 

In travelling through the Bari our large caravan 



THE BAM POISON THE STREAMS. 363 

was astir at the rattle of the drum in the morning, 
and marched the whole day, except the three hottest 
hours, which were spent imder shady trees. Dur- 
ing the march the colours led the way, no one 
was allowed to precede them, and a complete cor- 
don of armed Toorkees surrounded the moving mass 
and kept order. In this way we proceeded across 
country at a smart pace, allowing no straggling, but 
making many halts. Sometimes, at several fields' 
distance, or outside their palisaded huts, or imder 
trees, knots of the people watched us. A favourite 
position with them was to stand on ' one leg, resting 
the foot of the other leg against the standing limb 
above the knee. A spear balanced them more firmly, 
but the posture would be most uncomfortable to a 
European. We passed through one body of the men, 
and they showed no fear till they saw our white faces, 
when they ran wildly away. While halting to drink 
and refresh at a stream, after I had quenched my 
thirst, seeing some large branches of the Euphorbia 
antiquorum placed in the water with stones over 
them, I inquired what could be the cause of the 
branches beiog so placed, when they replied, "Oh I 
have you drunk of the water? that plant has been 
placed there to poison it'' The Toorkees laughed 
when told that I had been drinking heartily, but as 
the stream ran as clear as crystal I had no hesitation 
in partaking of it again, and felt no bad effects. The 
natives preferred digging holes in the sand of the 
stream, and drinking from them. The Ban are no 
doubt a dangerous people. We had two porters 
wounded by their arrows, of which they carry num- 
bers, and they showed such a front on the occasion 



364 PREPARATIONS FOR AN ATTACK. 

of my umbrella being accidentally left behind, that, 
although thirty of our men went back to recover it, 
they thought it prudent to abandon my old and trusty 
friend 1 Our most serious affair with them was on the 
night of the 14th of February 1863, the day before 
getting into Gondokoro. A most anxious night it 
was : we were all lying encamped upona grassy slope 
round a large tree within a mile of the Nile, when, 
having dined, Frij came to us, saying, "Have you 
heard that the natives are coming to attack us ? Ma- 
homed says we must be prepared with our guns for 
a fight" " Do you hear that, Speke V " Yes,** was 
the calm reply. On reflection, we remembered having, 
shortly after our arrival, seen the porters and Toorkees 
go to the village and take away a quantity of pali- 
sading, and whatever other articles they could carry. 
The smoke of two guns had also been seen; but 
whether any natives were killed, the Toorkees would 
not say. The people had fled at the time, and their 
return accounted for the present alarm. Darkness 
soon fell on the camp. We ascertained that the sen- 
tries were imusuaUy alert, so we retired to rest ; but 
about ten o'clock my servant Uledi awoke me, saying 
that " the natives were about to attack us. Do you 
not see their fires?'' Sure enough one-third of the 
horizon was a flame of burning grass, and my first 
impression was that we should immediately be sur- 
rounded by the spreading fire. The natives screamed 
and beat drums, and men carrying torches made of 
grass collected from other villages. We now dressed, 
placed our rifles by us, and sat watching the scene. 
Dances in circles were performed to drum- music 
beaten in the most furious manner, and the women's 



WE SEE GONDOKORO IN THE DISTANCE. 365 

shriU voices sounded loud amidst the bargoma and 
other horns. Overcome at last by sleep we lay down 
again, and at daybreak awoke to find the rest of the 
night had passed without further disturbance. This 
was very fortunate, as had the maps, journals, and 
collections of our expedition perished on this occasion, 
the loss to us would have been irreparable. During 
the night, Captain Mahomed was asked to send them 
by a bearer to Consul Petherick at Gondokoro, but he 
replied that no one dare travel at night, and that the 
fires and dancing we saw were only an intimation that 
we would be attacked in the morning. Twice the 
enemy had come up to our camp, but the click of the 
sentries' gunlocks frightened them away. 

We all moved off in a compact mass by daylight of 
the 15th February, and were not molested, though we 
passed villages, outcropping rocks, and jungle of low 
trees, all favouring attack. After proceeding seven 
miles the features of the country completely changed 
from highland to lowland. As far as the eye could 
reach, there was to the north a dreary plain, dotted 
with the Punjab madar, growing upon firm and hea^y 
sand. As we approached Gondokoro, a white speck 
was pointed out to us as the keneessa, or church, the 
spot where the Austrian mission-house stood. After- 
wards we could see the masts of Nile boats, the ap- 
pearance of which increased our excitement — I could 
have flown to them ; and when our band of Toorkees 
drew up a mile from them to form line and fire a^ew- 
de-joie, I had great diflSculty in submitting to the de- 
lay. However, Speke was tolerably cool, and we all 
marched in together. Entering the first respectable 
hut we reached, we inquired for our friend Petherick, 



366 OUB MEETING WITH BAKER. 

and were informed that a gentleman had been there 
only a few minutes before. The inmates oflFering to 
conduct us, we proceeded in quest of the gentleman 
referred to, and soon had the happiness to see a sturdy 
English figure approaching. With a hearty cheer, we 
waved our hats and rushed into the arms, not of Pe- 
therick, but of Baker, the elephant-hunter of Ceylon, 
who had bravely come in search of us. All England, 
he said — nay, all Europe — ^believed that we should 
never get through the tribes ! Here we were, however, 
grateful for our preservation, and grateful also for the 
sympathy of our kind friends and countrymen. Baker 
led us to his " diabeah," or Nile pleasure-boat, and we 
found him surroimded with many of the comforts of 
civilised life long denied to us — tea, sugar, coffee, 
bread, wine, &c. We had had no English news later 
than August 1860, and now it was February 1863; 
so that there was much for us to hear of national af- 
fairs, as well as matters of private interest. But where 
was Petherick ? Had he made no preparations for us ? 
or, finding we had not been able to keep to time, had 
he despaired and given up the search ? A handsome 
diabeah and luggage-boat of his were here, but there 
were neither letters nor instructions for us. He him- 
self was not at Gondokoro, and had never been there. 
Instead of co-operating with our expedition, he had 
gone to his own ivory depot in the west, and only 
arrived at Gondokoro four days after ourselvea We 
learned from Baker that kind friends in England had 
placed £1000 in the hands of Mr Petherick for our 
succour, and were doubly surprised that he had made 
no effort to meet us. It was to M. de Bono's men, 
and not Mr Petherick's, that we were indebted for our 



THE CLIMATE OF THE WHITE NILE, 367 

escort. I feel it due to the memory of my companion 
to state these facts, and to say that I had the same 
feeling of disappointment which he had, and that our 
meeting with Mr Petherick was by no means the cor- 
dial one we anticipated. Having been previously 
supplied with all necessaries, and three return boats 
by Baker for conveying us to Khartoom, we required 
nothing save a few yards of calico to replace the bark- 
doth rags of our twenty Seedees, and this we obtained 
from the stores of Mr Petherick. 

We halted at Gondokoro from the 15th till the 
morning of the 26 th, so that Speke might find the moon 
in lunar distance for the longitude, which he ascer- 
tained to be 31' 46' 9'' east, and latitude 4" 54' 5" 
nortk During this dry season it was very hot, the 
thermometer ranging from 94** to 100** in the shade ; 
but it was thought a better climate and more pleasant 
residence than Khartoom, there beiQg only two hot 
months, January and February, during the year. Be- 
tween Gondokoro and Khartoom the White Nile is 
reported unhealthy ; and amongst its many European 
victims was a distinguished French naturalist, Dr 
Penny, who had explored farther south than any pre- 
vious traveller. His loss was deeply felt at Khartoom. 
Many of the servants of the traders were suflfering from 
ulcers^ having been in swampy countries ; and on the 
tenth day of my arrival at Gondokoro I had an attack 
of fever. Nearly all our Seedees had tapeworm dis- 
ease, contracted on the journey. The animal gener- 
ally appeared in single white portions, one inch long 
and one-third of an inch broad. It gave them no 
pain, nor did it reduce the men in flesh, but it was 
very inconvenient Bombay vomited one, which meas- 



368 THE NILE AT GONDOKORO. 

urecl six to nine inches in length, with pointed head 
and tail. This happened several times to him; but 
he thought that until he got rid of the great one, 
which he called their "mother," the disease would 
stick to him. On our arrival at Kiartoom I prescribed 
half a tumbler of salt dissolved in water ; but having 
once tried my remedy, the Seedees pronounced it too 
nauseous to try a second time. Speke, half-a-dozen 
of our twenty Seedees, and myself, were the only men 
of our expedition who escaped this disease. 

The Nile at Gondokoro is in two branches; the 
main one lying on the right, and a smaU low island, 
on which cattle feed, divides it from the left brancL 
The old banks were at this season fifteen feet above 
the alluvial deposit of the river, which again was four 
feet out of water. There seemed a greater body of 
water, because it was spread over a larger surface, thaD 
when we had seen it thirty miles farther up. Here 
the strongest current, bearing to the right, was about 
three miles an hour, and the breadth a hundred and 
fifty yards. Standing upon the bank, and looking 
around, the country presents a flat Eg3rptian aspect, 
with the solitary hills of Rujub, Beeleenja, &c., to the 
N. W., S.W., and S. The water was full of lake debris, 
making it muddy and disagreeable to drink until al- 
lowed to settle. All day long parties of three and 
four natives swam across, resting upon a log of the 
pith tree or ambadj. They do not swim as we do in 
England, but stretch out their arms alternately over 
the water, crowing loudly "ow, ow," as they go merrily 
across. Although there were small canoes on the 
river they were not often used, even when produce was 
to be conveyed from one bank to the other. They got 



ANIMALS — GONDOKORO AS A PORT. 369 

sooner over by swimming, and when a cow was killed 
on the opposite bank, its meat was placed inside the 
inflated skin, and propelled through the water by the 
man swimming behind it. Crocodiles were no doubt 
numerous, but we saw no accident; they must be 
frightened by the number of people who daily cross at 
this point. We heard from Petherick of crocodiles as 
high as a table, and twenty-five feet long. At night 
the stillness was often broken by the trumpets of the 
hippopotami, which sound softer and more musical than 
when heard during the day. Baker had an excellent 
fishing-net, with which, in a jolly-boat, his men would 
cross the river to still water, and in a couple of hours 
bring back half-a-dozen species. Some resembled her- 
ring in shape, but the best for eating was a large flat 
fisL Of birds, the most interesting was a scarlet and 
green fly-catcher, which nestles in the perpendicular 
banks of the Nile like a swallow. We had not met 
with it on the journey. It took short flights, rapidly 
skimming the air, and then resting for a moment on 
the brink of the bank. From the Nyam Nyam coun- 
try to the west very handsome black goats are brought, 
remarkable for their small size and long hair. It may 
be worth mentioning that we here saw leeches, which 
we had not met with in any previous part of our 
journey; whereas, in the Himalayas, one cannot go 
through the grass returning from a day's sport with- 
out having a dozen of them fastened on one's legs. 

Gondokoro presented quite the appearance of a sea- 
port, there being twenty large boats anchored there. 
We had understood it to be an outlandish place — dan- 
gerous and almost inaccessible. But for the last five- 
and-twenty years or more it has been a mission-station 

2 A 



370 KOORSHID AGA's HOSPITALITY. 

and place of trade. For about fourteen months previ- 
ous to our arrival, it had never been without Egyptian 
boats and boatmen. A sailing boat, " diabeah," or a 
" naegur," leaving Cairo in November, can reach Gon- 
dokoro, with a north wind, in three months. On the 
19th February, Baker received English news dated 1st 
November. The return journey to Ehartoom is made 
so as to insure arrival by June, with the advantage of 
the south wind ; but we made the voyage much earlier, 
and landed on the thirty-third day from Oondokoro. 
To give an idea of Nile travelling in these regions, I 
may mention that a boat which conveyed Baker, with 
his crew, attendants, and four horses, was hired by 
him at Khartoom at eight pounds per month — a most 
comfortable boat, with two cabins. The pay of his 
sailors was lower than what we paid our Seedees for 
the journey — namely, two dollars per month, and the 
helmsman and carpenter seven dollars each* Their 
food, "doora^" grain — i. e., jowari — would cost, say, 
ten dollars monthly; so this, altogether, was cheap 
travelling on the Nile. He had also brought up 
several camels and donkeys ; and the former gave an 
Oriental look to the scene around his encampment 
Koorshid Aga, a Circassian gentleman, Uved here for 
some months, and was noted for his hospitality. 
Plainly dressed, and living in the most simple style, 
he would produce to his friends sparkling wines and 
other luxuries in profusion, for which we could make 
no return. Here he remained in security, with his 
guard-ships at anchor in the Nile below his premises, 
while his three or four hundred dark Nubians, armed 
with beautiful, though cheap, percussion guns, were on 
their beat for ivory in the interior. He had his tract 



THE WHITE NILE TRADE. 371 

of country or "preserve," like all other traders. 
" Latiffe's beat,'' " Petherick's beat,'' " Koorshid Aga's," 
"De Malzac's," — all were known by these names, 
just as we know the " Black " or " Braemar " forests. 
A trader who attempted to go upon another's beat 
was considered a poacher, and a fight would certainly 
ensue if this etiquette were violated. Events taking 
place in these wide ranges of country are little known, 
as every party is a world to itself, and all are jealous 
of one another. But if the stories of "White Nile 
trade" be true, it is considered disreputable for any 
European to engage in it The " Blue Nile trade," 
on the other hand, is esteemed respectable ; but here 
also there is some jealousy when a new competitor 
enters the field. The reports we heard at Faloro of 
Mahomed's men attacking villages by surrounding 
them at the hours of deepest slumber, and capturing 
their people and cattle, &c., were here confirmed to 
us, and these raids had taught the men of Oondokoro 
the most lawless habits and practices. Life was im- 
safe, guns loaded with bullets were constantly fired 
out of bravado close to our boats, the consequence of 
which was that fatal accidents occurred, and there 
was no government or police, and no river steamers to 
stop the slave-trade. Consul Petherick was looked 
on as an interloper ; he tried to put down this illicit 
traffic, but he was opposed by a clique, and his men 
saw no advantage in his service or that of any Euro- 
pean. They could not keep slaves, so there was great 
discontent 

We saw with Koorshid a splendid and well-shaped 
old tusk, which weighed one hundred and thirty-five 
pounds, and which at Khartoom would fetch 114 




372 THE MISSION-HOUSE AT GON1X)KORO. 

dollars. Every country has its own particular quality ; 
and I should imagine the ivory produced fix)m the tall 
reed grasses of a forest country like Uganda would 
not be so favourable for forming huge tusks as the 
vegetation in a lower and more swampy country, al- 
though the ivory would be of firmer texture. We 
were told that the ivory of Kitch on the Nile, at 
6° 49' N., was of a superior description ; the country 
there is swamp and covered with reeds to the horizon. 

The mission-house at Gondokoro had been built 
some thirty years ago. Dr Knoblecker, a very 
eminent man, had long laboured in it, but now it is 
a mere shell, and its garden of lime, pomegranate, and 
orange -trees is a waste for cattle to graze in. We 
met a kind hospitable gentleman, Mr Moorlang of 
the Austrian mission, on his way to Khartoom : his 
station had been at KitcL He gave a mournful ac- 
count of his labours, and was now recalled because 
the influence of the traders had checked his endea- 
vours to propagate the Gospel He had found the 
natives always civil, but if they or their children were 
not presented with clothes and beads, they kept aloof 
from him, and ultimately looked upon the missionary 
as having paved a way for the Nile trader to traffic 
in slaves. 

In walking about Gondokoro, the natives always 
addressed us with " Adhoto," which may mean Good- 
morning ; some got as far as to say, " Salam alek.'' 
They were all nude like the Bari, and carried a small 
basket, in which were a few pieces of charcoal with 
which they lit their pipes. A baron, very highly 
spoken of, was killed by them a few years ago ; his 
men had accidentaUy. when firing their guns at ran- 



dom, shot a natire, and as no nnlross w-ai^ given, iho 
men were attacked, and sixtiv.n of thoir nunilvr sl^in. 
The poor baron was away aliooting lUicks at tho \mu\ 
and, returning in the middle of the tunnilt;, w;us kilUnl. 
A missionary, whose boat was clost^ by, \va*^ not t ouohisl. 
At Khartoom it was not oxix^otod that wo wo\)ld 
ever succeed in crossing Africa, but Madamo l^inno, 
her sister the baroness, and Miss Tinno, \\\\i\ mow 
hope of us, and in the most philanthropir inannor, 
braving the malaria of the White Nih^ thoy nMioluMl 
Gondokoro in a steamer expecting to aid uh. Tin* 
natives will long remember their humanity nntl 
generosity ; but the deadly swamps have Hln<!f^ proved 
fatal to poor Madame Tinne, and also to u nH^clical 
man of her party, and several Enropcjun w»rvanfH. 
Mr Baker, too, was full of hoj)e, and \uu\ U)hl ilw, 
people of Khartoom that, as Brucfj ha^l cliw^ivfjntil 
the source of the Blue Nile, our party would d^'i^id^? 
that of the White. At length it wan tirn^; w^; nhonhl 
leave Gondokoro. By the 25th of February ^H(y^, 
Speke had found the moon in proij^^T ji^iHitiori fm 
taking lunars. Wc ha/1 hf:anl all the EngJixh tui^9( 
from Baker, we ha^l nhared hi.H ho^qiitablf; tab!/; fhmufi^ 
our stay, seen hhi iqnnU'A nlcfiU^hcHf and liKt^rn/'d V/ ht^ 
animated conver^situm. i)nr \tffnU w/rf; fill^'d with 
the neceseari*:^, and f^miff/riA f/f \iif% a/id 'rv^rj-thif*^ 
was prepared for onar .starting with ^)^', ^t^M^m '%h th^ 
morning. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

GONDOKORO TO KHARTOOM, FROM 26TH FEBRUARY TILL aVTH 
MARCH 1663 — LEAVE GONDOKORO BY BOAT — THE SHIE 
COLTTTRY— AUSTRIAN MISSION - STATION AT KITCH— THE 
RIVERS BAHR-EL-GHAZAL, BAHR-GIRAFFE, AND 60BAT — THE 
8HILL00K COUNTRY — BANKS OF THE NILE — ARAB SETTLE- 
MENT OF EL EIS — ENTRY INTO CIVILISED COUNTRY — ^A&RIVAL 
AT KHARTOOM. 

Our Seedees were divided among the three return 
boats furnished by Baker to convey us to Khartoom. 
Two were naegurs or baggage-boats, made roughly of 
the Acacia Arabica or soonud, and having each an un- 
wieldy sail, without awning or cabins. The third was 
a diabeah, which we and our private servants occupied. 
Her build was lower in the water than the others, the 
hold was neatly boarded over, and upon it was built 
a poop-cabin. She drew three feet of water when 
unladen, and had the peculiar Nile rig, with twelve 
rowers, a helmsman, and a captain or "nakhoda'' 
named Diab. Two of the other hands were not forth- 
coming, preferring to lead a roving life with their 
former master, Baker ; but at two in the afternoon of 
the 26th, having bade adieu to all, we shoved oflf, and 
floated down with the current The oars were rudely 



THE PEOPLE OP THE SHIR COUNTRY. 375 

tied with rope to the gunwales, and the men only re- 
quired to keep the boat in the stream and prevent her 
getting ashore on banks of sand. When any exertion 
was required, they rose fix)m their seats, laying the 
weight of their bodies on their oars, and joined in a 
pleasing monotonous song, led by the " stroke '' of the 
party. Proceeding in this way against a slight head- 
wind seemed no labour to them ; they rowed, joked, 
sang, or munched dry " dooro," bread and garlic, from 
sunrise to sunset. By noon of the third day we had 
made great progress — namely, one degree of north lati- 
tude — notwithstanding that we lay-to during the night 
on account of the shallowa We had reached a sta- 
tion of Koorshid Aga^s in the Shir country, and passed 
through a comer of the Berri country. The banks 
were grassy and flat, and the trees were covered with 
creepers, giving them the appearance of old towers or 
abbeys. The river was divided by islands into four 
branches, and it required all the knowledge of our 
captain to decide which of them to choose. Some of 
the islands were covered with cattle, which ran off as 
they saw our boat approach. In the dry season, the 
natives bring down their cattle to graze and water 
them near the river. Their rustic settlements, of a 
conical form, with numerous people about, were built 
upon the very banks of the river, and were so small 
that a single man could hardly lie at length in them. 
The people sometimes spoke to us, wishing to get 
beads ; but possessing so many cattle, they certainly 
were not objects of compassion. Nearly all of them 
were covered with ashes, as if they had lain in them 
during the night. 

Sitting on the poop-deck, we watched the scenes on 



376 SCENES ON THE NILE, 

the river. Pelican flew in solemn procession, or 
marked the water's edge by a line of white. Myriads 
of the Indian paddy-bird perched upon the trees. 
There were cranes, divers, and sometimes a fish-eagle. 
At one time I counted the heads of twenty-two hip- 
popotami, a perfect shoal of them, packed as close 
as they could swim together, looking like monstrous 
retriever dogs in the stream. Some were' spouting 
water, others dipping, others snorting, and others 
rearing their heads and shoulders ; but as we got near 
them, all dived to come up again scattered. This 
packing seemed common, as at other places we came 
on them in the same order, with cranes perched on 
their heada 

We saluted Koorshid's colours with two guns from 
our deck at a Shir village where we lay-to for some 
hours. Two of his soldiers, holding possession of the 
place, were posted with a supply of beads, &c., with 
which they purchase ivory. The village chief came to 
call on us ; he was dressed like a Turk, with a fez and 
long-sleeved gown of pink striped calico, but the crowd 
of natives who sold commodities on the bank were nude, 
only that their skins were covered with wood-ashes. 

They made here an excellent basket, shaped like a 
finger-glass, from the fronds of the doom palm. Its 
fruit and flour, tasting of gingerbread, as also tobacco, 
were exposed for sale, in exchange for our men's pro- 
visions of doora-grain. Many of the nude natives 
had been circumcised, and all had their lower incisors 
extracted like the Wanyoro. On entering the village 
we found it clean and tidy; the part before each 
doorway plastered as a space to sit upon. Here, sit- 
ting by some standards, three women received us 



WOMEN OF SHIR — RACE OF AUAB. 377 

graciously by shaking hands and saying, "Adoto/* They 
were the last race that we saw wearing only fringes and 
switch tails of corded fibre. They smoked clay pipes, 
in shape like a reversed cone, with two resting-prongs, 
each holding half a handful of tobacco ; and their long 
stems had mouthpieces of iron, quite fashionable in 
comparison to those seen in Uganda. The young 
men sported a two-feet-long piece of solid Dalbergia 
wood, the shape of a marline-spike, but tapering at 
both ends, and often nicely milled longitudinally. 
There was nothing further to remark about this Shir 
village, but that the cattle were comfortably housed 
under sheds made of the fronds from the doom palm 
— a tree we had not seen since leaving the Zanzibar 
coast. 

The next race we came among were the Aliab, 
known at once by their women being partially dressed. 
Here they slung a goatskin over the shoulder, like the 
Wanyamuezi, to hide their chests, and two other skins 
were tied round their waists, depending in front and 
behind. We were told, however, that only married 
women were allowed to wear all this clothing. The 
men were also distinguishable by a tuft of wool on 
the crown of their heads, a circle of very white mud 
plastered round it, and their faces and bodies covered 
with ashes. They did not seem at all afraid of us, for 
they assisted in pushing oflf our boat Their diet is 
said to be almost entirely a milk one, and they have 
numerous herds. We put in to the left bank at the set- 
tlement of Shenooda, a Khartoom merchant, and found 
the latitude to be 6** 5^ 9'^ N. Another station, where 
there were forty men and a boat, was low and un- 
healthy, the musquitoes at night being in myriads. 



378 OUR PAETY ARE FIRED UPON. 

Our crew were somewliat lazy, and stopped nearly a 
day at this point under pretence of laying in wood, 
but in reality to talk with the people, and kill a cow. 
However, we were rewarded for the delay by getting 
a favourable breeze near the point where we again 
joined the main stream. 

From thence to the Austrian mission-station of 
Kitch the banks did not present any landing-place ; 
we were hemmed in by reeds, and not a tree was to 
be seen. The station consists of a few round huts, 
with doors and glazed windows — ^ miserable place 
for the clergyman, the Rev. Mr Moorlang, who had 
there spent three years of his life. To land we had 
to be carried through swamps which lined the banks, 
and as we touched the tall grasses, clouds of mus- 
quitocs rose from the vegetation. Here was the good 
Christian's little glass-roofed chapel, surmounted by a 
cross of wood; there was his schoolhouse too, — but 
all desolate and forlorn, for not a native would come 
to learn. The mission was therefore about to be for- 
saken, as ]Mr Moorlang had informed us at Gondokoro. 
On his passage down to Kitch, the natives had fired 
poisoned arrows into his boat in open day; one man 
had been wounded, and was since dead. This stoiy 
elicited from our men mention of a similar incident 
They also had been attacked while in rear of our larger 
boat, but it was during the night, and the arrows and 
spear fell harmlessly into their boat. To remedy such 
evils, I should say that the frequent visits of a river 
steamer would be highly desirable, both as protecting 
the natives from being plundered by the followers of 
traders and travellers, and as tending to civilise the 
people themselves. 



TORTUOUS COURSE OF THE NILE. 379 

Mr Moorlang, in the fulness of his heart, was 
unbounded in his kindness and liberality. Candles, 
wine, and goats were pressed upon us by the generous 
Tyrol mountaineer. He was to be in our wake to 
Khartoom ; and Speke having taken the latitude of 
Kitch, we roused our crew, asleep on the shore, and 
rowed during moonlight to Abu Kuka station. Here 
was another miserable swampy spot; not above six 
huts of grass, closely surrounded by water ; not a tree, 
only high grass and reeds. The place was unworthy 
of the name of a station. From this point Consul 
Petherick had gone across the country to his trading 
depot of Neambara, in Moro. We came upon another 
station in this Kitch country, known as Mr Binder's, 
late De Malzac's; its latitude was T 8' 18" N. It 
was rather pleasantly situated on flat ground, and 
consisted of a dozen round huts, plastered outside, 
and having a neat thorn fence surrounding them : but 
the natives were about the most wretched I had ever 
seen. They brought us their small loads of firewood 
to exchange for grain, and seemed like living skele- 
tons. They had bead ornaments upon them ; but of 
what use were they ? — there was no grain for them to 
purchase. Before reaching this point the river had 
been winding in the most fantastic manner ; a gentle 
breeze blew ; and over the tops of the tall reeds we 
could perceive by the sails of our other two boats that 
we three were sailing in a circle, or that the stream 
ran in the shape of the letter S. 

From the 5 th till the 9 th of March, while passing 
the Nouer country, we lost sight of our two other 
boats. The wind had been contrary, and the hands 
were reduced by sickness. A breeze luckily came 



380 NOUER COUNTRY — BAHR-EL-GHAZAL. 

from the south, and brought our fleet together again. 
They had been alarmed, and expressed a wish for 
gunpowder, as the tribe of Shillock had lately killed a 
trading party three hundred strong, and were bent on 
attack. Some traders' boats we met " kedging " up 
stream conveyed us this news. It must be extremely 
tedious going up the Nile where the shores do not 
admit of landing to tow the boat. The plan adopted 
is this, — ten men being engaged, a row-boat goes 
ahead with a cable and anchors, and the large boat is 
then pulled up to the smaller, much in the same way 
as they " kedge " on the Ganges. We observed that 
the huts in the Nouer country were numerous and 
large ; they lie in open plains, which are dotted with 
cattle and goats, at some distance from the river bank 
The papyrus, the pith-tree, or ambadj, and reeds, line 
the sides of the river, and beyond them was a forest 
of acacias, which aflforded us an opportunity of la)4ng 
in a supply of firewood. The tracks of elephants were 
numerous ; and the damage done by the gigantic 
brutes in eating the pods of the trees and breaking 
down the branches is very great. While in the Nouer 
country we had the extreme pleasure of seeing the 
polar star for the first time after nearly three years, 
as bright as ever, and in the old place ! 

On reaching the Bahr-el-Ghazal, an affluent of the 
Nile, our boatmen fired a single gim as a salute. 
They told us this was done both on the up and down 
voyage. Our river, which had lately been averaging 
eighty and a hundred yards wide, kept its course, not 
mingling its waters with the Bahr-el-Ghazal, which 
here was without debris or apparent current, looking 
more like a back-water or still pond half a mile 



RIVERS BAHR-EL-GHAZAL AND GIRAFFE. 381 

square. After their junction there was an evident 
increase in depth and breadth ; the waters, also, were 
less like a sewer in colour, — they had become clarified 
to a certain extent, and the rate of current was esti- 
mated at two miles per hour. The sides were rushes 
to an unknown depth ; indeed, from the accounts 
given by our captain, the Ghazal must at one time 
have been almost choked with water vegetation. He 
mentioned that the first explorer of it took three 
months to penetrate through reeds a distance which 
can now be reached in five days. I expected to have 
found it looking more like a river ; but instead of 
this, had we not been prepared for it, we should have 
passed it without notice. The White Nile was at 
once pronounced by our captain to be the nobler 
stream ; and he added that, with a favourable wind, 
it takes ten days to reach the Ghazal from Khartoom, 
and one month more of fair wind to reach from the 
Ghazal to Gondokoro. 

While waiting at the junction, our cook, M'kate, 
discovered a crocodile's nest with seventy-seven eggs. 
They were nearly all presented to us ; but their taste 
being disagreeable, we made them over to our boat- 
men. Rowing for nineteen hours almost due east, at 
the rate of two miles per hour, brought us to another 
stream, the Giraflfe, coming from a south-east direction. 
It seemed to flow with rapidity — ^probably four or five 
miles an hour — was from fifty to sixty yards across, 
and bore down with it quantities of the pretty rosette 
called Pistia Stratiotes L., which was first gathered in 
the Kiirague Lake. Our captain, who was an autho- 
rity, said of this river that it had received its name 
from the circumstance that cameleopard abound in the 



382 THE RIVER SOBAT. 

country through which it passes. " It is a large river, 
and if you were to sail up it for fifteen days, you 
would only be half way to its source in the Bhor 
country." The character of the Nile changes soon 
after the Giraffe joins it ; the current becomes scarcely 
perceptible, the width increases fix)m one hundred and 
fifty to two hundred and fifty yards, and you can 
generally land, there being acacia trees on the right 
bank. We observ^ed on both sides of the Nile distant 
mole-like solitary hills, the first seen since leaving 
Gondokoro, which may give some idea of the flatness 
of the land. There were several large islands also, — 
one in particular, to our left, dividing the stream 
above the junction of the river Sobat, which joined 
us from the right almost at an angle of ninety degrees. 
The Sobat (lat. 9° 20' N.) was a hundred yards across 
fix)m bank to bank — ^a large body of water, its surfeux 
imdisturbed by ciurent or weeds, and sweeping round 
to the left in a remarkable manner as you looked up 
its stream. The left bank of the Sobat was abrupt, 
and from twelve to twenty feet high, with a few 
acacias. Its right bank was lower — say eight feet — 
had more slope, and down to the water's edge grew 
a dense thicket of reed vegetation. From general 
appearance, I judged that the body of water thrown 
into the Nile by the Giraffe during four-and-twenty 
hours was equal to that contributed by the Sobat 
in the same tima The distance between those two 
rivers was calculated to be sixteen miles. We had 
rowed it in 9^ hours, not including the time we 
rested while a gale blew from the east These gales 
came on suddenly, and detained us generally fix)m 
nine till three o'clock; the boats stood them well; 



HIPPOPOTAMI BECOME MORE RARE. 383 

but, from the impossibility of quickly lowering the 
yard, to which the immense sail is securely fastened, 
the boat was often very unmanageable. The crew 
foimd the yard so unwieldy, pivoted as it was on the 
top of the mast, catching the wind and nullifying 
their rowing, that it had to be finally lowered, the 
operation taking three-quarters of an hour ! 

Our course improved after we were joined by the 
Sobat ; instead of sailing east, we were going north-east 
The river varied in width from two hundred and fifty 
to five hundred yards ; sometimes it branched round 
long stripes of islands, or a beautiful reach of water 
was presented. We had no longer the low swamp on 
either side ; the banks rose boldly ten feet above the 
water ; we could land anywhere, — either in the Shil- 
look country, which was a plain clear of all vegetation, 
or on the opposite or right bank, the country of the 
Denka, where firewood might be obtained. Hippo- 
potami in such a locality were scarcer than where there 
were reeds, but they were met with even here ; and at 
night, between those steep walls, their lowing reverbe- 
rated pleasantly from bank to bank. An oarsman by 
chance struck one while sleeping in the water. The 
sport it afforded caused quite a commotion in our boat, 
for after being touched, the animal arched his back in 
self-defence, sending himself half out of the water. 

On the wooded banks of the Nile, about lO** N. lat, 
opposite the Sultan of DainaVs territory, we found 
thirteen boats at anchor. They had come to demand 
redress fix)m the sultan, and to settle some political 
matters regarding the annihilation of a whole zariba, or 
station of Arabs, in the interior. Their commander, 
we understood, was one Ibraheem, He and his party 



384 ENCAMPMENT OF BAGARA CAVALRY. 

of three hundred soldiers, foot and horse, formed a 
picturesque encampment under some beautiful large 
soonud trees — Acdcia Ardbica. The Bagara Arab 
horsemen reminded me of the wandering tribes we 
read of in the Bible ; the listless way all walked about in 
their long gowns, the docility of their pony horses, the 
Oriental-like saddles, the women grinding com, all 
camped so close together looking in amazement at the 
white men, wondering where we could have dropped 
from, and smiling as we walked amongst them. These 
boats had been two months on the voyage from KJiar- 
toom, and had been joined on the route by upwards 
of a hundred Bagara cavalry, who with fifty camels 
travelled by land, keeping pace with the fleet The 
Bagara wear no covering on their heads; their hair is 
straight, black, and silky, worn oflf the face in long 
broad plaits pinned flat down behind. Their horses, 
though small and thin, were well cared for, having no 
galled backs, as might be supposed on looking at their 
awkward-shaped saddles. With these animals, and 
their long -handed, broad -bladed, glistening spears, 
wonderful feats are said to be performed by them in 
elephant-hunting, although no guns are used. At night, 
their camp was guarded by sentinels, who called out at 
interv^als, instead of our custom of going the rounds. 
Music was indulged in to a late hour by incessant beat- 
ing on drums. An interesting funeral scene took place 
in this camp, on occasion of the death of one of the 
Khartoom natives. The body, veiled in white linen, 
was laid on the brink of a grave, and a line of well- 
dressed Arabs stood over it reading prayers from a slip 
of paper held in their hands, all in the most devout 
and solemn manner. 



THE PEOrLE OF SHILLOOK. 385 

The canoes of the natives are small, and made of 
planks, with pointed bows and stems. Rafts of grass 
or ambadj are used for ferrying the Nile, the natives 
standing up to their knees in water while paddling or 
propelling them with a stick After coming out of this 
raft, they place it on end to dry on the shore. The 
Shillook men, residing in a large tract of country about 
1 0° N. lat., are nude, and, looking at them from be- 
hind, the hair is so trained that it resembles a black 
fan. We took one of the men as a guide to conduct 
us in searching for our two rear boats that had not 
come up, as we believed, and had caused us some un- 
easiness and alarm. Sailing up stream, he landed to 
speak with the people of Shillook, who immediately 
flew away in fear of us, commencing to drive oflf 
their cattle. Our boats had passed us during the 
night unobserved, and we found they had preceded us 
twenty miles. This may give some idea of the size of 
the river. The guide was not satisfied with two yards 
of calico, saying, " If I were not alone, you dared not 
offer me so little ;" he was very impertinent, and before 
leaving the boat exchanged his calico for a spear. We 
had now got to about 11^° N. lat., where the territory 
of the true original Shillook race ends, and that of the 
mongrel Shillook and Bagara horsemen begins. On the 
left bank was an Arab station called Kaka, its two hun- 
dred huts being fenced and ditched against the hostile 
natives. For the first time we came upon irrigation in 
the true Egyptian form — a large pole weighted at one 
end, with a leather bucket at the other. Indian com, 
tomato, onions, and plantain were gi-own here in gi-cat 
luxuriance. The native who commanded at this post 
was carried on board of our boat to be treated for a 

2 B 



386 CURIOUS SMALL FORMATIONS. 

swollen limb. From our remnant of medical comforts 
we were able to give liim some plaster, and he went 
gaily away on one leg, so pleased, that he sent us a 
plate of rice and some tomato. I have a recollection 
of seeing strewed on the broken ground about Kaka, 
curious formations, which may have been ancient relics, 
or concrete ; but, in order to direct attention to them, 
I may mention that Dr Falconer, the fossil authority 
of the day, suggests that they may have been fossil 
remains. The whole depot of Kaka turned out to 
greet our captain, calling him by name " Diab." They 
intrusted him with messages, billets-doux, and money, 
till he seemed astonished at their number. Even 
after we had sailed, two men ran along the shore 
with letters, which were thrown at our boat, and 
cleverly caught by one of the crew. 

The evening before our arrival at Kaka we saw 
twenty boats at anchor in a river said to be a branch 
of the Sobat, on the right bank of the Nile. They 
lay one mile up its stream, and the people were on 
their way to punish some Denka, having with them 
camels, donkeys, and ponies. I could not learn the 
name of this unexpected river, but our captain assured 
us that it was not a branch of the Nile, which, indeed, 
it did not appear to be. Hence Captain Speke has 
written of it as a second Sobat ; while Consul Pethe- 
rick asserts that it only exists in Captain Speke's 
imagination. The windings of the river in this lati- 
tude, about 12° N., were very eccentric : sometimes 
our " head " was west, at other times direct upon the 
polar star, as when passing a solitary hill, a strange 
sight in the Denka country. The heat was excessive 
— 94** in the shade, making the bilge- water very dis- 



WATER-SNAKES — ^FISH-EAGLE. 387 

agreeable, though causing no sickness. Indeed, the 
native sailors considered the smell to be healthy. 
Our boat was full of cockroaches, climbing about at 
all hours ; musquito also abounded. Our crew were 
sometimes put into a flutter by seeing a harmless 
water-snake making for the boat with head erected 
out of the water. These creatures steer along so 
direct that they seem to see nothing before them ; but 
the natives imagined that they were purposely mak- 
ing for the boat to get on board 1 The shores were 
often lined with thousands of black and white geese, 
or the solitary fish -eagle might be seen standing 
apart. He is a bird of remarkable beauty; his gen- 
eral colour is black, but his head is white, and the 
shoulder-tips and feathered thighs are a glossy red. 

Although highly favourable for cultivation by 
means of irrigation, not a single field or village is to 
be seen as you glide down the splendid, almost lake- 
like stream some 400 yards wide. Either side is a 
flat dry country of alluvial soil, covered with natural 
bowers of climbers connecting the trees. The banks 
reminded me of the beautiful Garden Reach on the 
Hoogly at Calcutta. One evening, in the distance, I 
thought a range of swelling hills was visible, but their 
outline seemed suddenly to change into a cloud 1 
This mystery was soon explained: the forms I had 
seen were myriads of finches covering part of the 
horizon : the creatures were migrating, and resembled 
swarms of bees in the air, quite darkening the sky. 
A day or two afterwards, one night on deck, I was 
startled by a sound as if wind blew through a forest, 
and was about to beat upon our boat ; but we had 
only disturbed the birds, which in their flight had 



388 BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY — SIGNS OF CIVILISATION. 

rested for the night in the tall reeds of an island ; the 
wave of air caused by their motion and their twitter- 
ing reached us, though we could not see them in the 
darkness. 

We travelled without an accurate chart of the 
river, and the beautiful parts of it cannot therefore 
be mentioned by name ; but about 1 3° N. lat. five 
liills ("Jubl Denka,'' or "Jubl Nyamat'ee" of the 
maps) appeared three-quarters of a mile from the 
right bank. Some were ridged with vertical strata, 
and descended to the river ; but none appeared above 
water. From this point we may say that civilisation 
was fairly entered upon, for we were addressed in 
friendly Arabic from both banks. Boat-building went 
on in the forests of " soonud '' or acacia, and hundreds 
of camel and cattle stood upon the receding banks of 
white sand, or drank the waters of the Nile. Women 
were clothed from head to foot, and carried water- 
pitchers on their heads — forming a peaceful and 
pleasing sight after the hardships and anxieties we 
had endured. The last trace of our jungle life was 
seen in the acacia forests, where trees lay prostrate, 
and where occasionally some antelope, new to us, 
with large horns bending over their shoulders, browsed 
on low bushes with the camel. A flight of wild 
geese, a host of monkeys, and a brood of guinea-fowl 
gave warning to the antelope, and none of them fell to 
our rifles. Domesticated animals now took the place 
of the denizens of the forest, and the trading-lx)ats 
had driven away the Avild inhabitants of the water. 
The sound of the hippopotamus was rare after we 
had passed the hills of Jubl Denka. Small grey duck 
no longer flew in line skimming the water ; and the 



WILD-FOWL BECOME SCARCE. 389 

black duck with yellow bill, said to be very palatable, 
no longer stood packed in himdreds on the banks. 
The mjriads of monster black and white geese were 
left behind. The familiar quack of the mallard was 
seldom heard at night. The pin-tailed duck shot 
past the boat, seeking less busy scenes. The crocodile 
had been scared ; he had lost his boldness, but still 
watched for a victim. Against his attacks thorn 
fences enclosed portions of the river, where cattle or 
goats might drink in safety; and it was remarked 
that in these more frequented regions wild-fowl were 
seldom seen upon the water; the Egyptian goose, 
which floated in scattered coveys near the sides, was 
the only species which showed no fear amidst the 
sounds of human voices : he fell an easy prey to the 
sportsman. These, and sundry other familiar sights 
and reflections, gave warning that our journey was 
fast drawing to a close. 

El Eis, or the Well, at about 13f° N. lat., is an Arab 
settlement on the right bank, on the highway between 
the countries of Sennaar in Abyssinia and Kordofan. 
Its houses are not seen from the river, but the shore is 
lined with troops of camels, a moimted guard or herd 
being over each batch, denoting that the country is 
well peopled. Khartoom, we were informed, could be 
reached from here on a donkey in six days. The river 
at El Eis is five hundred yards in width, but increases 
to a mile of shallow water, with islands, as we float 
down its stream to Shellai and Al'aga ; farther down, 
when opposite Jubl Musa on the left bank, it becomes 
narrower, being only twelve hundred yards wide, and 
sluggish as a mill-pond. The next feature in the flat 
landscape is Jubl Broeme, a table-topped solitary hill. 



390 THE BANKS OF THE NILE AT EL EIS. 

three hours' row from Jubl Musa ; and the object last 
seen before arriving at Khartoom is Jubl Aolee, so 
called because it is the first hill observed when ascend- 
ing the White Nile from its junction with the Blue. It 
is not above a quarter of a mile from the right bank, 
and rises two hundred and fifty feet in a barren mass 
of rock, which sends a spur down to the brink of the 
river and crosses it in a N.W. direction, showing one 
small peak in the stream. The country is finely varied 
about this hill ; the verdure of the shore recedes under 
small acacias, or the bush euphorbia dots the streaks 
of white sand. 

The banks of the Nile at El Eis shelve gradually 
into the water : the soil is so rich from the quantity 
of floating sediment brought down by the White Nile, 
that it was no uncommon occurrence to see the goats, 
wliich had gone to nibble the short sweet grass and 
drink the stream, sink up to the knees in the soil, 
and remain there bleating, quite unable to extricate 
themselves. Beyond this green line the soil becomes 
cracked, and strewn with several species of shells, 
some of which we had seen in the interior. Drifting 
sand, conveyed by the north winds, spread itself over 
the rest of the shore, and there the walking is firm, 
and forms the highway for Arabs proceeding upon 
ambling donkeys to or from their capital of Khartoom. 
A curious line of sand-hills margins the river almost 
the whole way between El Eis and Jubl Aolee. There 
are none upon the left bank. It is naturally an abrupt 
wall eight feet high in the alluvium of the country, 
and these violent north winds, bringing the sand of 
the desert with them, have given it the appearance of 
sand hillocks ; at Gutoena, this is particularly obser- 



THE CULTITATIOX OF OOT1V>N\ S:?^i 

vable where the sand has not perfeoilv c\>yoi\\1 thow. 
The consequence is. that wood g;ivo wnv to sand : •-u^d 
the Toyager has to lav in his hist stOi^k i>f K^ fix>m 
the woods above El Eis. Below this ;dl finnviHvl nms^t 
be purchased, or stolen from the walls and fonoo:^ on 
the banks of the riv^. 

We were all much struck with the industry of tho 
natives, who are called " Hassanyeh Andvs," and aro 
fine powerful - looking men. Though ditforing fnun 
the Bagara who live higher up the river, juul not having 
so many horses, they arm themselves with the same 
broad-bladed spear, and have few guns amongst, thoni. 
The chief dwellings and cultivated gnMUids an» at 
some distance from the river ; they n»aido then* dur- 
ing the rainy season, and migrate with their flockn to 
the edges of the Nile for the dry season. Tc^iniHimry 
abodes are erected, and they trade in salt nuido fmm 
the subsoil of the river. In March we ol)H(Tved ban»- 
headed, good-looking men, with a Hheet covering ilidr 
shoulders and with loose "pyjamas/' jnilling i\\o. rip- 
ened pods of the cotton. Towards thci (upiator woiiiPii 
would have been employed in this ocutupaiion, Imt 
here, with a Mohammedan i>()])ulation, tlj<^y an* k<*pt 
indoors cleaning the cottf>n, making luiil/cr, or out 
drawing water from the W(;ll. Tlie cotUni bunlii'H unt 
eighteen inches high, plant4;d in lin(*.H a yard apart - 
very luxuriant, in consecjuencMj of tin* rirli rlay htn\ 
being shaded by drifted wind from llj<t rayn of llu* Mun, 
By this provision of nature the miil (hHtn not ruki*, and 
the roots are kept c^>^>l, and fnut to 8<'nd out Mj^ir 
branches. The iiilandx vary in length from tUnu*. 
hundred yards t/i that of Manhi, wljj<fi in <*«linjah'd 
at five miles. All are HlrijM cUtsutAi of thtrU' natural 



392 WOMEN DRAWING WATER. 

vegetation, and flourish under a hard-working people. 
In the brightest of suns we observed two men, har- 
nessed to ropes, pulling a toothless rake, guided by a 
third man, over the soft mud, preparing it for seed ; 
and, unlike the Africans, the Egyptians never cease to 
work while a boat passes them. The islands in March 
were not less than three feet above water ; no houses 
were upon the smaller ones ; straw was stacked ; a 
few plough-oxen might be seen ; and a small boat lay 
to ferry the labourers to the mainland at night. 

The operation of drawing water from the wells dug 
in the shore is interesting. Two women, a boy, and 
a donkey are required : the wells are five feet deep, 
thirty inches across, and only ludf-a-dozen yards from 
the ripple of the river. We saw a fair woman stand 
down the well and pass the water in a gourd to an- 
other, who filled it into a goat s skin. Her beautiful 
black hair was parted in the centre, and braided in 
small plaits, which hung over her flushed cheeks and 
neck Though her bosom was bare she showed per- 
fect innocence. On my asking for her cup to drink 
from, it was at once given, appiirently without any 
fear of its being defiled by the touch of a Christian. 
The water, in comparison with that obtained from the 
filter on board of our boat, was warm and not refresh- 
ing. Two goat-skins or " mussocks " having been filled 
and allowed to rock about in the river, they were 
placed on the donkey, the boy jumped up nimbly 
behind them, and Avith one hand held the water-bags 
steady, and with a wand in the other he guided the 
imbridled donkey to the huts. 

The people were listless and indifierent to us if we 
went near their poor abodes, but their dogs at once 



BATHING SHEEP IN THE NILE. 393 

cliallenged the intruder. Tliis struck us, because in 
our journey through Africa we had rarely heard the 
voice of a dog. We now found that we could no 
longer purchase produce with beads or cloth. Money 
wiis the mode of exchange. We were amused wdth 
Bombay going amongst these Arabs to buy fish with 
an iron hoe : the honest fellow thought, from their 
simple mode of life and appearance, that we were still 
amongst a wild set of people ; and so they were to a 
certain extent, for beyond the produce of the soil, 
and their cattle, sheep, and goats, they seemed to have 
no other desire. Great care was consequently taken 
of their flocks. The large lop-eared breed of sheep 
are bathed in the Nile by their owners. They are 
carried into three feet of water and dropped on their 
backs or sides, then scrubbed to the tail, and allowed 
to run back to join the flock. The goats are tall, 
generally black, with immense udders and long hair ; 
they are clipped with a knife, and their hair, with that 
of sheep, is made into a coarse blanket or bemoose by 
the women. Powerful smooth greyhounds, indigenous 
to the country or to the western parts of Abyssinia, 
are used as we use sheep-dogs, and seem to guard care- 
fully the habitations as well as the flocks. 

Our captain, Diab, was known to many of the 
people along the river's bank. The Arabs would call out 
eagerly to him, asking after their brothers or husbands 
far in the interior ivory-hunting. I watched several of 
these interviews. Once an elderly woman called him by 
name from the shore while our boat moved down the 
stream. Without asking for our permission, he landed, 
and they saluted by each placing the right hand on 
the other's shoulder, then a solemn shake of the hand 



394 COLD NORTH WINDS FROM DONGOLO. 

took place, and Diab for a moment left her to go and 
sit upon a dry spot of sand. She followed, sat by him 
and told her tale, while a boy joined them, and was 
kissed by Diab on the cheek Master Frij seeing what 
went on, thought he had better join the small party, 
and listen to what they had to say to one another. 
Taking his place close by them, he sat there with the 
greatest coolness, without introduction to the lady, or 
any previous knowledge of her. The Africans are 
generally a free-and-easy race, and despise the for- 
malities of society. When IVIr Moorlang, the Austrian 
missionary, was pressing upon us the acceptance of 
some delicacy, Frij, too proud to confess our poverty, 
found a reply by saying that our larder was full to 
excess — we did not require anything! He was the 
Caleb Balderston of the Nile Expedition. 

Our passage down the Nile from El Eis to Khar- 
toom, though only one hundred and fifty miles, occu- 
pied us eight days. The stillness of the current^ the 
head wind, and the enticements oflfered to our crew by 
the bazaars at Shellai and Gutoena, prevented our 
reaching sooner. Although the diabeah was all that 
we could wish for in comfort, yet knowing the dis- 
tance to be so short, the delay was vexatious; the 
more so as we were told that at that point, or more 
particularly at Gutoena, the north wind coming fix)m 
the Dongolo direction sometimes, at this equinoctial 
season, detained boats for eight days, or even a montL 
I was astonished with the coldness of the atmosphere, 
even after the sun had risen, occasioned by these 
northern winds from Dongolo, and I asked Diab, the 
captain, regarding them ; his reply was, that they 
and the Cairo winds are colder than any ever ex- 



TOWIXG, TACKING, AXD SAILING. r^l>"* 

perienced at Khartoom. We had to lay-to so oftoii 
that waUdiig on shore was resorted to as a p^stiiuo ; 
and we were glad to renew our aequainbince with tho 
Persian wheel, driven seemingly by the same old bul- 
locks and the same drivers as are seen on the plains of 
Hindostan ; even the squeaking music from the wheels 
was there to complete the parallel. 

The management of the diabeah was left cntin4y to 
the captain, who, with his crew, tried every possiblo 
means of progress — ^towing, tacking, sailing, and row- 
ing ; but all generally failed. The truth is, th(»y wcn^ 
waiting for a fair wind, and preferred a little quiet 
society on shore every evening, to making any great 
exertion to get to their journey's end. Wlujn thcjy 
rowed, the boat was held with its broadside in tin? 
direction we wished to take ; and when they tack<?d 
from shore to shore across the river, which was a siuUt 
broad, we stuck as regularly as the tack was made, 
not getting off till the crew jumped into the waU.T 
and pushed the diabeaL Instead of making progn'HK 
by these movements, we generally lost grciund, in con- 
sequence of the awkward way they lia^l of making the 
boat wheel a complete circle, or fall off the win'I at 
the particular moment of changing the UwM. Towing 
was willingly adopt^^-^l by the crew, who harncKWid 
themselves to rope», and walk^'^I at a hUiUI pace on the 
hard part of the shore. However, at ihi.H ojMrration it 
was often very dwh^Art^rning Up find the wind hlow, 
retarding, and finally '*^t]f]i\uu^ their a/lvanei:, W#: inyu- 
erally put up for the night by the >,hore, Vt tuif\»U' th^^ 
crew to eat their dinn^^rs, and we were mt th^t ni//v«-. hy 
daybreak "Wlien at '^'ui]r Nai^^ra (UuitaWy, W' d/um^; 
we were told iLat, if ve Jrt/j»^/J by ft v/hury Ur^. f»u fi^/r 



396 KHARTOOM IN VIEW — ^THE BLUE NILE. 

island, we could hear the drums of Khartoom. We 
did not make the experiment, and doubt the truth of 
the saying, on account of the distance. On the night 
of the 29th March, having rowed for Shijr Nagara till 
the moon was well up, we lay-to, our captain not wish- 
ing to enter the port of Khartoom at so late an hour, 
because all eclat and firing of guns would thereby be 
lost. Accordingly, on the following morning, we saw, 
when looking across a plain as bare as a table, at two 
miles' distance, a single conspicuous minaret, with an 
extinguisher top, numbers of mud houses, and groves 
of the date-palm. This was Khartoom — ^lat, 15** 36'. 
Our route was down the White Nile for two miles, and 
then up the Blue Nile or Bahr Azrak for another mile. 
Wishing to take particular notice of the junction of 
the two rivers, Speke and I were both on deck by 
daybreak. As the main branch of the White Nile 
approaches the junction, the current gets strong and 
rapid, showing a broken surface, with a dangerous 
sunken rock in its right centre. The crew got excited, 
and shouted ; but in an instant the danger rock was 
past, and we were carried a dozen yards beyond the 
junction of the Blue Nile. The sail was here spread, 
and we soon recovered our lost gi'ound, and proceeded 
up the Blue, whose waters now, in March, had scarcely 
any flow, and were so shallow that we had to pole a 
good part of the way up-stream. The colour of the 
water at once attracted our notice, being somewhat like 
the Mediterranean ; it was a green-blue, and, on l)eing 
disturbed, was lively and sparkling in comparison with 
the muddy waters of the AVhite Nile. The junction 
of the two rivers, the sweeping curve, and both shores 
of the Blue river, are not unlike what we had seen at 



ALI BEY WELCOMES US AT KHARTOOM. 397 

the place where the Sobat joins ; but the right bank 
of the Sobat is of gigantic grasses, while here the Blue 
river is of shelving, di-ifted sand. Their left banks 
resemble each other in being an abrupt break of twenty 
feet in the alluvial soil. A pier of stone lies unfinished 
near the confluence of the rivers ; and after we had 
passed it by sailing and poling slowly up, the left bank 
'vas enlivened by boat-building operations, irrigations, 
gardens, date-trees, walled enclosures, &c. Two of De 
Bono's men, to whom we had given a passage from Gon- 
dokoro, fired a salute in our honour from the shore. 
We had not anchored when Ali Bey, the Wukeel of the 
Governor, Musa Pasha, anived with a friend in his boat, 
and stepped on board. He embraced us in the most 
affectionate manner before we had even time to learn 
who it was that had thus welcomed us. We proceeded 
on shore in his boat, which was shaded with an a^v^ling, 
and carpeted. Ali was very nicely dressed d la Turky 
in a claret-coloured cloth suit, quite a contrast to the 
ragged clothes we wore. There was no such tiling as 
a pier or platform. We stepped ashore and ascended 
the steep incline of the river bank, and then stood upon 
the level of the town. Proceeding at a great pace, our 
hands being held by our kind conductor, down lanes 
and round comers, every one we met on the way show- 
ing him great respect, we at last reached a house and 
garden. A white Arab horse stood eating from the 
same bundle of grass as a caparisoned donkey, and 
we were directed to sit upon a charpoy (four-poster) 
covered with carpet, while the Wukeel bustled off into 
the interior of the house. During his absence, the 
friend who had accompanied him to the boat told us 
(native fashion) that the Wukeel who had faiken uh by 



398 ALI BEY DRESSES US. 

the hand was a man of great influence and importance. 
As yet we had no interpreters, and it was difficult for 
us to guess what was ultimately to be done. How- 
ever, the Wukeel soon rejoined us, and, more myste- 
rious than ever, he beckoned and led us into the first 
or outer room of his house, where we were shown a 
quantity of seedy old-fashioned clothes, and told that 
we must put them on, — ^they were his. I don't know 
what possessed me — whether afiection for my own tat- 
ters, or a natural repugnance to put on clothes that had 
been worn by another — but I shrank from wearing the 
garments, and objected strongly to a thick cloth sur- 
tout, stating that it was too hot for 94° in the shade. 
The Wijikeel then conmienced to put his fingers into the 
holes and rents of my ragged old flannel friend, and 
said, that I must really oblige him, because these holes 
were " il)es" or blemishes, which the expected visitors 
would observe. I accordingly submitted to being 
stripped by Bombay and our host, who seized my arms, 
pulled ofi" my old coat, and replaced it by an extraor- 
dinary sky-blue paletot Speke's costume was ludi- 
crous ; he looked as if dressed up for some boyish frolic. 
His trousers, in front, though short, were passable, 
being of English blue cloth and cut ; but when he 
turned round we saw an immense piece of calico let 
in, so as to enlarge them for a figure of twenty stone. 
The next difficulty arose from his unwillingness to 
change his comfortable plaid waistcoat for a chintz 
jacket, which buttoned to the throat and had tight 
sleeves. He objected, because there was no watch- 
pocket, but one was found, and he yielded. Over this 
garment a tight-sleeved frock-coat was pulled on by 



5T10 RECEmON. ro.>^> 



the good little WokeeL Thoiv va^ gn\H livniWo in 
squeezing him into it, but it wa^ otftvt^ni aiul I tluMi^ht 
all was completed. Xo : Ali Bov tix^k ilu^ \vidt\^\v».kx^ 
off, and placed instead a tassolcd fo* on fho Uu>k of 
Speke's head ; and then, fully equip|XHi Ali IVv 8l\xxl 
back, examined him from top to tois olap|KHl lu8 IkmuIh, 
and pronounced the whole get-up highly iHH'omingl 
The ingenuity of the Wukeel was not yot ovor, Ty inji 
a knot on each leg of the cast-off trousors, bo crannnod 
into them coats, waistcoats, widen wnkos, ki\, niakittg 
a decapitated Guy Fawkes, and bundhul thoni ovor lo 
Bombay. I thought I had escaped all further clnwing, 
but my toilet was not considered conij)l(»t(^ until an at- 
tempt was made to fit a fez upon my head ; ami (liiH 
proving hopeless, we were ushered luU) a room with 
sofas all round, to partake of coff(;e, braiMly, ami ri((ar«, 
About twenty fashionably-dnisscd gcjrith'intin in Kurci- 
pean and Turkish costumes then cann; ruMhing in t^) 
welcome us. They had heard of our approu<!h l\w pn* 
vious day by a letter which we hwl forwiinhMJ from 
Gutoena, and they had alrcjuly deHpaf/;h<fd lh<j m^MMtf(i) 
that first reached England regarding uh, unnonn/^in^ 
that the "Nile was s^^tth^L^ It wsih th/; int>rnfi/;n nf 
these gentlemen to have rid/h;n out on horn**.\Hi4'.k 
and camels up the 1/aiik V} bring u$i inf/; Khstrt^f^fnt in 
triumph, but their uii:s^:Uiittr h;i/l fail^yJ Uf iiwl uk, m$4 
they politely eipn^ii^^:^! regr^rt at Urinjf tiik/rn nuixif^HUM, 
However, th«ir yir^'Af/ntif'. wapt tufMt iiul\tuif^tiulu% M. 
de Bono, fir/rnuif/rAy ^:^IM \jh.uff[h by fj#^; hf$.Uf*'A. 
whose tradiiig d-:p^/t vh \Mi fffrit^il h.1 Vh,Uifh, v^k lYu-. 
lead in ofTrrnr^-s/ :;.*, UM^^jtji!J.\y. W*; uX\ At/l/,v,//^yi u^ 
his beaxi:if:iilr t:*j^>':'^ \jc^ia^,. uA ^^,/r)^i p.h<^ '^^iv.- 



400 RESIDE AT THE BRITISH CONSITLATE. 

book*' amidst animated conversation, interpreted by 
Bombay, who stood looking as great a rough as one 
could well imagine. M. de Bono generously oflfered 
us his house as a home during our halt at Khartoom : 
but there being a British consulate, we considered that 
it would be more correct to reside under its protection, 
and therefore we proceeded thither. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

KHABTOOM, FROM 30TH MARCH TILL 16TH APRIL 1863 — THE BLUE 
NILE — NATURAL PRODUCTS — ^ALI BEY — KHARTOOOM A CAN- 
TONMENT FOR TROOPS — ITS BAZAARS AND MANUFACTURES 
— ^THE COPTIC CHURCH — ^THE AUSTRIAN MISSION-HOUSE — 
EGYPTIAN REMAINS — ^DEPARTURE BY BOAT FOR BERBER. 

Half a century ago no town existed where the pre- 
sent Khartoom stands, at the confluence of the Blue 
and White Niles ; but, in the days of Egypt's great- 
ness, a city stood on the plain, on the right bank of 
the Blue river, not ten miles from the modem site. 
The origin of Kliartoom forty-four years ago was a 
military post on the Egyptian frontier. Previous to 
annexation it belonged to Abyssinia : now it is a place 
of considerable trade, governed by Musa Pasha, and 
held by fifteen thousand Egyptian troops. The point 
of land on which the town is built is so low, that 
every season the streets are flooded by the overflow of 
the river, and still its locality is not changed, though 
all agree as to its unhealthiness. The derivation of 
Kliartoom is most probably from the safflower {Cartha- 
mus tinctorius L.), called here " Grartoom,'* cultivated 
all over Egypt for its oil, used in burning. Except 

2 c 



402 THE BLUE AND WHITE NILES. 

where irrigated, the country everywhere presents an 
arid, uninteresting aspect; drifting sands cover the 
land ; there are no trees or anything green to relieve 
the eye from the glare. In the distance to the north, 
about seven miles oflf, there axe a few bare hills — ^those 
of Dongola, and a small range to the left. It is truly 
a land of banishment, cut off by deserts and a river of 
cataracts from the ci\dlised portions of the world. To 
this Soudan, or country of the blacks, many whose 
conduct is questioned by their government are sent to 
pine without hope of release, unless their shortcomings 
should be forgiven, or a change of rulers take place, 
when they might hope for pardon, and permission to 
return to their homes in Egypt proper. 

In April the Blue Nile was twenty feet lower than 
it is during the months of July and August; the 
snows in the moimtains of Abyssinia bring it up to 
this height; and I suspect tliis flood has more to do 
with the inundations of Lower Egjrpt than the more 
constant flow of water fix)m the White Nile. The 
latter river we saw at its maximiun height in Novem- 
ber, and it has another flooding season in April 
Where do these waters go ? A great portion is lost 
in overrunning a space of perhaps 1000 square miles 
of lowland ; and the ^Tiite Nile thus robbed, as it 
were, never displays those sudden changes in height 
that the Blue Nile, more confined to its bed, presents. 

The waters of the two rivers are very different in 
taste and appearance. Neither is considered first-class 
drinking water by residents at Khartoom ; but after 
their waters are mingled well together, the mixture 
is esteemed excellent. Opposite the town the Blue 
Nile is two hundred and fifty yards across, and of a 



FRUITS AXD VEGETABLES OF KHAKTVX^M. 4<'^\ 

greenish colour. Sis miles up stivam it narrows Iv* 
tween steep banks to one hundnxl and fifty j'^mK 
The town being on the brink of tho rivor, and owry 
year its houses getting cut away by tho f;dUiig in of 
the bank, there is no room for walking iUong — no quay, 
as it were, for the exports and imports. You an> ob- 
liged for half a mile to brush past the Widls of houtu^s, 
the wellS) goods^ and animals — a most unoomfort^iblo 
state of tMngs. During our stay at Kharl(Knn tbo 
sun was very powerful, and we had but one sliowor in 
a fortnight. Bathing in the Blue Nile wjw much re- 
sorted to by men and women, who apjwiircd ti) enjoy 
it thoroughly ; but I only attempted it once, Iwcmiuhij 
the river was so low that I had to walk thirty yimU 
before getting into water deep enough to enable nio 
to swim. Fish were genenJly to l>c luul in tli« U>wu. 
They are caught in various ways ; 8om(j by neU ni'urly 
fifty yards long, with large mcishes and Hliort Iluaf-M of 
wood. Irrigation from the Blue Nile in eflrr,U^d by 
cutting narrow channels in the bank ; or the Vt*miin 
wheel, with its hanging earthen jarH, oviahaiigM this 
river, and so raises the water t(} the height of the 
fields and gardens. FruitM and vegetablen thrive at 
EJiartoom. The former include a Mniall vtirhdy ofprnntit^ 
oranges, limes, cuj^tard ap]jh^, iK^me;(raii;it>;^ phuitttiii, 
dates, and figrf ; the veget<ibje« are ift'.si9$H an/J in^stt^*., 
onions most luxurl^it, lupin, note k//lf% Uun^ra, Uximu^ 
&C. The Xfji^'J'J} gn^wri wapj different U9 wh/it we Uiu\ 
met with in thft m^inffr ; li/rre it w;« th^: l//w \mx,Uy 
description calk^l SirMmwi r^ixlii'ji A,, that, ^/f lUt, j/».- 
terior being A' t/jJ^f/:u7a //,, whi/;h ^ntt^ y/ith * \in^^rj 
lea£ Senita w <M'. */i xi^-. U^fii. ':'ilt> ^^ittM. nlsui suttUyvr.f, 
already n^OiU^/tjA^ Ti^ }**r7*«t ^4 J^,w/|/4 fl»h/s*a 



404 THE HOUSES AND VICINITY OP KHARTOOM. 

is cut in March, and the grain is large and rich in 
colour. No pleasant walks had been made in the 
neighbourhood ; the few groves of date-palms, afford- 
ing the only shade that existed, are generally walled 
round ; and if you proceed into the country, Avith one 
exception there is nothing but a desert of sand. This 
exception is a " cottage in the wood," belonging to M. 
Bartolemy. It had been surrounded by a belt of the 
fast-growing yellow-blossomed Parkinsonia aculeata 
i., and, when within the grounds, the flowers and 
vegetation looked so green and fresh, that one 
might imagine he had been transported to a quiet 
retreat at home. The other European residents lived 
in the town. Their houses, generally of one storey, 
are large flat-roofed structures of mud and brick, sur- 
rounded by walls, having a single gateway guarded 
by a doorkeeper. They reminded me of the serais^ or 
stations made for travellers upon the grand trunk-road 
of India. In their court}^ards tame birds or ant^^lope 
walked ; wild animals lay chained ; camels, donkeys, 
cattle, goats, or horses stood about ; lumber and store 
rooms filled the space ; and a corner perhaps was de- 
voted to a shady retreat under the vine. Each con- 
sulate — and there were French, Austrian, American, 
and British — at Khartoom had its elliptical signboard 
over the main entrance. The principal room of the 
house is the hall; there business is transacted, and 
visitors are received in the morning, which is entirely 
devoted to calling, smoking, and drinking coffee. It 
has been mentioned that we chose to reside imder the 
British flag, although at that time the consul was ab^ 
sent at Gondokoro. The attentions we received frx)m 
the various gentlemen residents were such as are per- 



TRAVELS OF THE BARONESS CAPELLEN. 405 

haps only met with in a foreign country — so friendly, 
free, and unrestrained. Unfortunately neither of us 
could communicate with them, except through Bom- 
bay or Frij ; but they had become great adepts at 
interpreting, and we succeeded pretty well. How- 
ever, a lady, the Baroness Capellen, sister to Madame 
Tinne, could speak English fluently, and we en- 
joyed her society frequently. She had been a great 
traveller, had reached Gondokoro, and had seen the 
miseries of sickness amongst the slaves of the ivory- 
traders. Smallpox had broken out amongst a party 
when opposite Jubl Denka, and the shocking remedy 
of throwing the slaves overboard when attacked by 
this disease was resorted to by these native traders. 
On making our first call upon the Baroness, we were 
astonished to see Frij and Uledi follow us into the 
room, both the worse for drink, and each carrying a 
rifle and spear. We all laughed at their ignorance of 
European customs ; and having asked them to place 
their arms outside the door, we were amused at their 
advancing, rather unsteadily, to the lady, kneeling and 
kissing her hand — this being the most polite mode of 
salutation known amongst the inhabitants of Zanzibar. 
We brought her the three young girls of Uganda, to 
let her hear their language, and see their mode of 
sitting and of returning thanks. They were highly 
delighted, received great kindness, conducted them- 
selves very gently, and gave great satisfaction, making 
friends with a servant girl whom the Baroness had 
rescued from slavery. While calling upon another 
occasion, a steamer arrived from the Bahr-el-Ghazal, 
having made the passage in fourteen days, and bring- 
ing news of Madame Tinne and her accomplished 



406 OUR RECEPnON BY M. DE BONO. 

daughter. The Baxon Von Ablaing was on board, and 
was to return with stores and baggage -donkeys, to 
enable the party to prosecute their journey as far as 
Fernando Po. Since then we have learned how fatal 
has been the result of this expedition. Poor Madame 
Tinne has died, and their labours at exploration have 
thus been suddenly arrested. 

We were hospitably entertained at a large reception 
by M. de Bono, whose ivory-hunters at Faloro were 
the first to welcome and render us aid on the Egyptian 
side. There were present four ladies and upwards of 
twenty gentlemen, French, Italian, Austrian, German, 
and natives. After dinner our health was proposed, 
and a toast by M. Thibaut, French consul, " The alli- 
ance of France and England,'' was cordially pledged 
and applauded. Our twenty Seedees were introduced, 
and, to amuse the party, went through a number of 
antics they had learned in Uganda. 

Ali Bey, Efiendi — or, to give the address written by 
himself, Ally Fud(h)lee bek, Wakeel, Hokumdariut, el 
Soudan bil Khartoom (minister. Government House, 
country of the blacks, Kiartoom) — was most constant 
in his attentions to us. He was the first to receive us 
and the last to part with us — showing us over the 
Government House, the schools, manufactures, and 
magazines, giving us horses to ride, parading the troops 
for our amusement, and doing numerous other acts of 
kindness. He had a white Gulf Arab, the most docile, 
at the same time fiery, creature I had ever beheld. 
When caparisoned in blue velvet trappings, richly 
embroidered in gold, and a Busserah bridle of silver 
chains and hanging tassels, the animal looked the 
most perfect and picturesque of steeds. The bit was 



AU bey's charger — A REGIMENTAL PARADE. 407 

a circulax ring placed round the lower jaw. K the 
ribbon-like rein was slightly pressed, the animal, from 
the utmost speed, was in an instant sent on his 
haunches, and continuous working of the bit put hirn 
into fits of high spirit. I thought fit)m this instance 
of horse-management that we have still a good deal 
to learn in England ; for there was no pace or figure 
that this animal would not go through, even if a child 
were upon his back. We were brought by Ali Bey to 
see his private house and family. The ladies, how- 
ever, did not appear. Ajim carpets and luxurious 
couches filled his suite of upper rooms ; all had been 
brought from Cairo by boat and across the desert. In 
his Turkish politeness, he said whatever we fancied 
was ours ! He paraded five hundred troops in line 
one morning for our amusement They were black 
sturdy young men, out of mixed races from the Sou- 
dan, and were armed with flintrmuskets. The uniform 
was a white suit, jacket and loose trousers, cross-belts 
covered with calico. In putting them through the 
platoon exercise, the ofiicer in front stood giving the 
commands, which were repeated by another oflScer 
in the ranks. They went through the exercise with 
perfect imiformity, quite as weU as any sepoy regi- 
ment Their passing in review and forming squares 
required considerable practice ; but these were mere 
lads, recruits, Ali Bey remarked ; and the old trained 
soldiers, from ten to fifteen thousand in number, 
were at present on a tour with the governor of the 
Soudan, Musa Pascha. Every Saturday, Sunday, and 
Monday morning they parade for exercise, and march 
through the town, headed by an excellent bugle or 
drum and fife band. 



408 CUKIOSITIES TO BE SEEN AT KHABTOOM. 

Another gentleman, one of the oldest residents in 
Khartoom, was kind and attentive. This was Mieha- 
eel, commonly called Lutfullah, a highly respectable 
banker and merchant In advancing ns funds, he 
would not accept the rate of exchange, so glad was he 
to serve the English Government ! 

Eiartoom being upon the highway to Abyssinia 
and the countries of the White Nile, it is quite an 
emporium for the trade and products and animals of 
those regions. At the residence of M. Thibaut, we 
saw a happy family of black and white geese, guinea- 
fowl, a Koodoo antelope, ariel, a Soakim long-homed 
goat, a Nyam Nyam goat> with immense long hair 
and short legs, and other genera. In his drawing- 
room, a chetah, a species of leopard, played with a 
pup-dog; and in the garden a striped hyena, not 
thought fit company for those in the yard, was amus- 
ing himself on his chain. At the British Consulate 
two ostriches walked solemnly about the yard picking 
up sand; they had no feathers upon them, having 
been plucked as bare as the dead fowls in a poulterer's 
window. At the premises of a Marseille Mussulman, 
who had been in Khartoom for thirty years, we re- 
cognised a great assortment of arms and curiosities 
brought from the southern counties of Hyria, Ban, and 
Shillook, but none of the Uganda weapons had reached 
him. The most remarkable shield we saw was in the 
possession of M. de Bono, who said it was used in 
Ilyria by the "rain-makers.'' It was of iron, dia- 
mond-shaped, three spans long, and above one span 
broad, with a handle of wood. Of M. Miani, whose 
name we had seen cut on the tree far up the country, 
we heard an amusing account Having proceeded 



SIGXIOK MTAXI — MR AirrKKtW 'X\))> 

farther up the Nile than any prvvunis tniYollci\ hU 
information was always sought fi^r bv );>'titlciuru 
arriving from Europe. Four Fronchmou {Uikoil l\u* 
counsel and advice; but Mimii giivo thoin mA\ \\\\ 
unpromising account of the countr)' that tliov m\\[ 
they would defer their journey, luul ivtununl to 
Europe. Another traveller sent for Al. Mmxu «uul 
told him he wished to go up country ; •* Vovy gmnl : 
but you will find the monkeys up thon^ vmy wiva};o/' 
"Oh, then,'' replied the other, "I shall ni>t ^m>." T\\\^ 
Signior, I suspect, is somewhat of a "c^hanMMt^r," or 
original In his native town of Vonico, on<» nnnw, 
with his name in large churacterH u])oii tlu^ door, Im 
entirely devoted to his collections of ariiiM aiid rurio- 
sities, and the wall is hung round with HkrU'lnm of IiIm 
battles, as he has designated them, with thn tml.ivi% 
He himself is made to figure very lurgdy in Urn rol 
lection of sketches. 

We were much interested with th<! UntwHl fmtiU- 
ness of a clergyman lx;longiijg Uj tlu; rilf^rim Mmu$ii 
from the Swiss Protestant Cliurch, Mr Ai|f|f«rrly, Hit 
was under middle age, and i¥:i(:tnf'A Up hsivti pimii iW 
termination of cbaract/^r and \i\s%f\\\tu:m //f i\\^9tm\vm. 
He had come in from \m «tati//n at (iii\:%Sfti\^ I/Im^, 
Xile^ riding upon Vm hsakfb^itt»f: f-MW']^ Vf ttr^io^c^ t 
business in Khar^y>m^ and, kij/ymrig Vj^ifihih^ \^\ *Mt4»^. 
fiiequentiy ti> ^"i*ii: va. Hi* hk}/mn w*^*\ n^a^im^. ^.<yr 

age to- zSmx '/nra ^/.yiu'^jrf irt K^v/^^/fcfi^ T*.^a^. *^fy/^r 

into' i'iXLgc '*''^x:s^x^ vx&xKy^kjia^ :Iju\ *iut v.vw»»^^ t^-jrv 
bjr tthe ha-jirirtiociiytn '^^i e.'^j^ — rj^t i>*uiui \i 'tin*. J^iu^ 



410 CONVEYANCE OF COTTON. 

jab. They cultivate jowari (or doora), have numbers 
of goats, but few sheep. Weekly markets are held by 
this race, at which about 250 camels, laden with cot- 
ton for sale, are seen; also cattle and goats. Each 
camel-load of cotton costs three dollars, and, as there 
are no Europeans to purchase it, all goes into Abys- 
sinia, where it is made into country stujSs, such as 
the damoor. Mr Aipperly expected to receive from 
England a machine for cleaning the cotton. From 
the market it might be carried by camels a few miles 
to Aboo Kharaz, on the Blue Nile, and thence, when 
the Nile is at its height in August, to the Mediter- 
ranean by water. This worthy Swiss interested me 
very much, living, as he did, such a contented and 
happy life with a single missionary companion. Two 
servants (a native Christian and a Mussulman) formed 
their entire establishment — one would not eat a fowl 
or goat killed by the other, but neither had any ob- 
jection to eating them when killed by his master. 
For the last year these two missionaries had together 
only received £4 3. Mr Aipperly had learned black- 
smith s work, and made friends with the natives by 
assisting to put up their irrigation- wheels, and other 
carpentry. I was struck with the docility and obedi- 
ence of his camel, which he had purchased for fifteen 
dollars in the Galabat market; a single word from 
him made the animal kneel, and there was no rough- 
ness on his part, as with an Indian Surwan, and no 
reluctance shown by the cameL He described the 
wine made from honey as remarkably good. Bees 
abound; they are kept in trees or houses, and the 
natives do not kill them, but smoke them away from 
the honey. The Dacrooree people pay tribute to both 



FRU GETS MARRTEa 411 

the Egyptian and Abyssinian or Mokad'a Govern- 
ments, as their territory lies between botL Their 
country is hilly, stony, and cool ; the hills of Abys- 
sinia are seen in the blue distance, and the minister's 
station is on the postal route between Khartoom and 
his fellow-labourers of the Pilgrim Mission in Hubeesh 
or Abyssinia. 

Our Seedees had been living a life of freedom ever 
since their arrival in the capital of the Soudan. Ma- 
nua and the Uganda girls had never before witnessed 
such grandeur. Bombay and Frij were seldom sober, 
and went about smoking cigars. The clothes in which 
Ali Bey had dressed Speke and myself were given to 
Bombay and Frij, with instructions that it would be 
indelicate of them to wear them while in Eiiartoom ; 
but they forgot the injunction, and Bombay paraded 
the towTi in a blue frock-coat and fez 1 Frij contem- 
plated marriage, and on the same evening that he an- 
nounced his intention, the ceremony was performed 
by a " Fakee,*^ or clergyman, who was paid the fee of 
one dollar. The lady had been the property of Bom- 
bay, and was given him by the king of Uganda, but, 
for a trifle of twelve dollars, promised to be paid at 
Zanzibar, she was made over to Frij, who told me 
that the clergyman exacted a promise from him to 
protect her and be a faithful husband for life. How- 
ever, there was a clause in the contract that, should 
he tire of her, she was again to become the property 
of Bombay. 

Nearly twenty years ago Khartoom was a canton- 
ment with twenty thousand troops. The regimental 
officers led a gay social life, and the town increased 
greatly. In 1863, it had rather a decayed look, with 



412 TRADE OF KHARTOOM. 

few or no troops ; but there were shops kept by Euro- 
peans and natives, where nearly all commodities might 
be had, including such varied articles as guns, ready- 
made clothes, wines. Bass's pale ale, groceries, hard- 
ware goods, &c. All manner of trades are carried on 
in Khartoom ; and on the streets water-carriers and 
people selling pigeons and fowls plied their voca- 
tions. Old Turks sat playing chess and backgammon ; 
and in the uncovered streets and open spaces stalls 
for cooked fish, trinkets, sweetmeats, and vegetables, 
were laid out as at a market One is surprised where 
all these things come from in such a desert country. 
Except the irrigated parts, and the senna-plant grow- 
ing as a weed, Khartoom does not jrield a single natu- 
ral or manufactured export The river presented a 
busy scene ; all the firewood, com, earthen jars, bricks, 
grass and palm-leaves for matting and rope, stones 
and lime, Berber salt, and European goods, were being 
landed from boats for the use of the inhabitants. 
Gum (the best coming from Kordofan), ivory, bees'- 
wax, cotton, and sesamum (called sin-sin), are brought 
thither, but merely pass through on their way to 
Egypt The White Nile is said to have 250 boats 
trading upon it yearly, including those on the Sol)at 
and Balu: GhazaL The Blue river probably has as 
many more ; but we saw only forty-five boats lying off 
Khartoom, and ten on the stocks, of which the largest 
measured twenty yards in lengtL The only manu- 
factures we observed at Khartoom were a few for oil 
and soap for home consumption. The oil-press was a 
heavy millstone placed on edge, and pulled roimd over 
sesamum -seed by a bullock with blinders. After 
being well bruised, the grain, now looking like a mash 



THE BAZAAR OF KHARTOOM. 413 

of bran, was removed to a screw-press, made of wood 
(without a nail), cow-hide, and grass. The oil, so ex- 
pressed, dropped at inten^als into a receiver below. 
At the soap-factory belonging [ to Shenooda, an ivory- 
trader, we saw two boilers busily at worL The lime 
and sesamum-oil used in the manufacture were both 
from Azrah. Ali Bey, who kindly showed us over 
these places, brought us also to the gold and silver 
smiths' shops. The artificers are celebrated for work- 
ing in filigree, similar to that of Delhi or Cuttack, 
and must originally have learned the art from East- 
ems. Cups with stalks, made for holding the Turk- 
ish cofiee-cup, are formed of the purest soft yellow 
gold, found as a dust in the Soudan. Napoleon or 
sovereign gold would not answer for such fine work- 
manship, having too much alloy; consequently, when 
cups are ordered, gold-dust is given to the workman. 
At the two shops we visited several youths were busy, 
sitting on the ground, each with a small anvil before 
him, hammering at threads of pure metal. Handsome 
small drinking-cups are turned out of the rhinoceros- 
horn, which has this advantage over the horns of 
cattle, that, in a hot country, it retains its shape, 
and does not crack. 

The coinage of Khartoom was puzzUng, on account 
of the variety of pieces and their names. The follow- 
ing are some of those in circulation : — 

1 para, equal to one-fifth of a pice. 

8 pice or 8 five-para pieces, equal 1 piastre (copper silvered over). 



2| piastres 
20 „ 


or groosh, 


„ 1 tliick sixpenny piece of silver. 
„ „ shilling „ 
„ 1 E^-ptian dollar or five-franc piece. 
„ 1 Maria Theresa dollar. 


77 „ 




„ 1 napoleon. 


100 „ 




,y 1 sovereign. 



414 GOVERNMENT HOUSE — ^BABHACE:S. 

Besides these there were small coins of gold valued at 
4 and 8f groosh or piastres. In Abyssinia, where the 
smallest coin is a bit of salt, the five-franc piece is 
valued at 28 piastres ; at Galabat, Mr Aipperly in- 
formed me, its value falls to 1 8 piastres ; but at Cairo 
it rises to 34. On Speke drawing £150, the account 
was as follows, the banker (Lutfullah), with great 
liberality, remitting the charge for exchange : — 



100 napoleons, at 77 piastres each, .... 7700 

379 francs or Eg3rptian dollars, at ld-10 piastres each, 7295 30 

4^ piastres, 4 10 

Total, 16,(XX) 

There is but one public building in Khartoom, the 
Government House, which overlooks the Blue Nile, 
and is a substantial brick edifice. A flight of steps 
leads up to the reception-hall, which is lofty and hand- 
some, hung round with engravings of naval engage- 
ments, &C. In the courtyard Lubach- trees {Acacia 
lebbek) give shade to orderlies and officials. Baths 
and all conveniences are attached to the suites of 
rooms, and comfortable stabling is provided for cavalry 
and horse-artillery. We were shown through the pow- 
der-magazine, a mile distant from the town ; it con- 
tains an immense store of ammunition, neatly arranged 
in cases. A barrack, simply walled round and almost 
smothered with drifted sand, is in the vicinity. The 
minaret we had observed on first approaching Khar- 
toom is part of the mosque of the town; it is pro- 
tected from the houses of the city by a high wall of 
stone, and sentries guard the gateways. 

Walking through the streets with Ali Bey, he led 
us into a walled enclosure, where there were from 



THE CHURCHES OF KHAETOOM. 415 

twenty to thirty tombs surmounted by crosses. The 
fumes of frankincense met us, and we began to wonder 
what sight was in store. We entered an arched build- 
ing ; a man in spectacles read aloud from a volume 
placed on a desk in the centre, and around him were 
men wearing large turbans, their shoes placed on one 
side, and several children, all sitting on a carpet listen- 
ing devoutly. On the walls were draperies and pic- 
tures of our Saviour, and within a doorway was the 
high altar covered with a cloth marked by the figure of 
the cross. We were in a Coptic church. As the ser- 
vice proceeded in Arabic, a handsome old man entered, 
bearing a staff surmounted by a golden cross. He 
proceeded to the altar, and knelt at each of its four 
sides, after which he returned to where we stood, and 
conversed with us. By his invitation we left the 
church to have coffee at his house. I have seldom 
seen a finer face than that of this venerable Copt. 
His name, we found, was Gabriel ; he is at the head 
of the Coptic church at ELhartoom, and has a con- 
gregation of about five hundred persons. He showed 
us his copy of the four gospels, printed in Arabic 
and Hebrew characters; and on our taking leave of 
him, he thanked Ali Bey and ourselves for having 
visited his church. 

The Austrian Mission has a large and long-estab- 
lished station at Khartoom. It occupies a few acres 
of ground upon the river bank, and is surrounded by 
a wall ten feet high. The main gateway faces the 
town ; it is handsome, and built of sandstone from the 
Kao. Their temporary church is small but very neat ; 
the front pews are occupied by the men, and those in 
the rear by the women. Through the kindness of Mr 



416 BAPTISM OF A NEGRESS. 

Moorlang, we took our Seedees to church, in order that 
they might be gratified with the sacred music firom the 
harmonicon. It was a Sunday, and many other na- 
tives were present Mabrook became greatly excited. 
On seeing the bleeding figure of our Saviour upon the 
cross, he held his mouth with his hand ; he wished to 
touch the figure, thinking it was real While at Khar- 
toom Speke was asked to be godfather to a grown-up 
negress, a servant girl in the Mission establishment 
His being a Protestant did not preclude him firom 
oflSciating in this capacity. The ceremony took place 
in the morning, and there was an unmense gathering. 
The liberal-minded Ali Bey, though a Mussulman, was 
present, also the Baroness Capellen, who was god- 
mother to the girl. Another christening took place at 
the same time, when Madame Bartolemy and M. de 
Bono officiated as godmother and godfather. During 
the ceremony loud reports took place outside; pro- 
bably the fellow - servants of the girls were making 
mcny by firing guns in honour of the event I 

The ruins of Soba, on the right bank of the Blue 
Nile, though as yet not much excavated, repaid us for 
the trouble of a ^dsit, as we had not seen those of 
Thebes or Phylae. Ali Bey kindly arranged a picnic 
for us, and in our old diabeah, Mr Aipperly, M. Aiigelo, 
a moullim or secretary, Speke, and I, rowed and sailed 
up the Blue river for three hours in the afternoon, 
accomplishing about six miles. We were then opposite 
Soba. There were no houses on the bank, and the 
country appeared flat and dreary. Sometimes the 
ground swelled up, marking the spot where houses or 
temples were still entombed Arriving too late to pay 
the ruins a visit, we delayed till morning, and had 



THE RUINS OF SOBA. 417 

dinner on deck Ajim carpets were laid out, candles 
were lit, and we sat round six brass saucers full of 
pastry, cutlets, and stews, which were eaten with the 
fingers. The usual coflfee, liqueurs, and tobacco fol- 
lowed, and we rested for the night under variegated 
rezzais or counterpanes on the top of the cupboards. 
Next morning on the shore there was a curious collec- 
tion of riding aniniala brought to convey us to the 
ruins of Soba. None looked inviting, but we were 
allotted a horse each, while others rode camels and 
donkeys. The moullim, a sedate fat little man with 
black turban, had by no means a dignified appearance 
sitting on the donkey without a bridle, and the animal 
soon dropt down on his knees, allowing the functionary 
to slide over his head. The first mound we examined 
had been a room ten feet square, floored with square 
bricks ; at each comer stood a round pillar of granite, 
seven feet between the capital and square base. The 
capitals were of three different designs ; the most con- 
spicuous being marked with the cross between acanthus 
leaves. All were now in ruin : the pillars were sunk, 
and the capitals lay separate. This excavation had 
been open for some time. The next we visited was 
opened by Dr Dumichen, a Prussian gentleman, whom 
we met upon the ground, and who kindly gave us an 
alphabet of characters. It was a small square building 
of stone, with two-feet-thick waUs very neatly built, 
having two opposite doors, and its floor four feet below 
the present level of the coimtry. The next and last 
excavation was a scaly sphinx lying upon a plinth, 
which, though considerably broken, was written over 
in Coptic characters, which consist of figures of men, 
beasts, and birds. The head of the sphinx, and some 

2 D 



418 PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING KHARTOOM. 

ornamentation on the chest, had been broken off The 
measurements were — 

Shoulder to plinth, 60 inches. 

Centre of chest to toil, .... 115 ,, 

Greatest circumference of neck, . . 122 „ 

Over the saddle part, from plinth to plinth, 140 ,, 

Over the rump, do. do. . 145 „ 

Length of the tail, 00 ,, 

Although there were other ruins about Soba, we were 
informed that the above were the only remains worthy 
of note ; so we re-embarked at noon, and returned to 
Khartoom. 

Preparations were making for our departure by 
boat to Berber, and thence by desert upon camels to 
Korosko. It was necessary, on account of the poverty 
of Berber, to lay in supplies of food at Ebartoom for 
both these journeys. Ali Bey procured us a small 
diabeah which belonged to Government We had 
only to pay the hire of the crew to Berber, namely, 
twenty-eight dollars. We had twenty Seedees, and 
each required to have two goat-skins, or "girba," 
to carry his drinking-water; Speke and I had two 
" rey," or cow-skins, each, for the same purpose, and 
water-bottles to hang from our camel-saddles. All 
these were purchased, the small ones for seven, and 
the large for thirty-eight koorsh each. It was neces- 
sary to grease and test these skins before setting out 
on the journey. A number of lads, each with the 
skin of a goat, blew into them with all their might, 
and then tied up the inflated skins for our inspection. 
Having arranged everything, we intended sailing at 
noon of the 15th April ; but the hospitality of the 
Baroness, the Austiian missionaries, M. de Bono, and 



ADVICE TO TBAVELLERS. 419 

other gentlemen of Khartoom, delayed our departure 
till the afternoon, when about a dozen of our kind 
friends came to bid us farewelL The advices we 
received as to crossing the desert were numerous, and 
I may here mention them for the benefit of future 
travellers : — Have a list of the stages by land and 
water, mentioning what supplies are procurable. 
Always sling a water-bag and bag of biscuit to the 
pommel of your saddle. Ali Bey recommended a 
thimbleful of nmi in a good deal of water as the best 
thing to keep one awake, and prevent tumbling oflf 
the cameLduring night. Always take a sleep for a 
few hours from nine in the morning. Water is more 
requisite than food ; next to this, abrey (or dry unlea- 
vened bread) and hard biscuit are the best See that 
your men do not steal your water, or the sailors your 
ropes. The camels, too, are apt, from thirst, to bite 
through the water-bags, which must be taken care of, 
and also covered during the night, to prevent the 
wind drying them up; and always have something 
under them. We found all these advices excellent ; 
and I have nothing to add except that a " Hadjeen," 
or riding camel, is indispensable to comfort 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

KHARTOOM TO CAIRO — ^THE GHERRI PASS — ^RUIXS AT 8CEXDI— 
THE PYRAMIDS AND RUINS OF MEROE — THE RTVEB ATBARJL 
— THE TOWN OF BERBER — SCENES ACROSS THE DESERT— 
THE VILLAGE OF ABOO AHMED — ^THE FALSE SEA, OR BAHR 
BELAMA — NATRON WELLS — EXTRAORDINABY NATURAL TUN- 
NEL — KOROSKO — CAIRO — ENGLAND. 

We rowed down stream till midnight of the 15th 
April, and lay-to for the remainder of the night at 
Halfaya. Here Ali Bey and the sheikh of the place 
appeared, bringing us a present of two sheep. We 
all dined together, and afterwards our generous friend 
Ali Bey took leave of us, and returned on horseback 
to Khartoom, having left an aide-de-camp to escort 
us to Berber. Our crew rowed incessantly till sunset 
About Halfaya the banks are either of hard shelving 
sand or perpendicular clay, and low% solitary hills are 
generally in sight The river was again mud-colour, 
and surprised us wdth being so narrow — ^not more 
than a hundred and eighty yards wide. On the left 
bank grew tamarisks, a species of willow, and several 
other plants we had not met with on our previous 
journey. While at Khartoom I had an opportunity 



PASSING A CATARACT. 421 

of seeing a collection of plants from the Balir Ghazal, 
made by Dr Steudner (since dead) of Madame Tinne's 
expedition; they were nearly all the same as those 
found upon the Nile, but some auricularias were 
interesting. The sunset view of Mount Roeean and 
the low chain of mounds to its right, as we looked 
down a rocky reach of the river about four miles in 
length, was striking; the slopes of the hills became 
purple, and the bushes on both banks were lit up 
in gorgeous tints. The river had quite changed its 
character ; numbers of rocks at the sides and centre 
of the stream stood out of the water, making the 
navigation dangerous, and impossible at night. Our 
rowers had to pull very hard to escape the sunken 
rocks, which we avoided through the aid of a pilot 
from the shore. 

l7fA. — Having passed the island of Roeean to 
our right, the river ran through a narrow pass of hills 
called "Gherri." Nothing could be more desolate- 
looking: splinters of black rock lay on their sides, 
like refuse thrown from a quarry. The river branches 
on making its escape from these hills. Our boat 
took the right channel, and had scarcely entered it 
when we had to pass through a rapid and dangerous 
cataract, known as the Sixth Cataract of the maps, 
and called by the natives Cibleoga. It was so 
narrow, that while our oars were poised, and we shot 
down the sluice, guided only by the helm, the oars 
almost touched the rocks on either side. The pilot, 
steersman, and boatmen saw that one false move 
would have dashed the boat to pieces, so they did 
not breathe freely till the diflBculty was over. No 
more rocks were met with till reaching Mumat at 



422 VISIT THE VILLAGE OF SCENDL 

sunset, where it was considered desirable to rest for 
the night. 

18th. — ^There are only two large places, or "bun- 
ders," on the route by water to Berber — ^namely, 
Metanuna and ScendL Nearly the whole distance is 
flat, bare, and uncultivated, without villages; but 
numerous flocks of cattle, camels, sheep, goats, and 
sometimes horses, are to be seen upon the banks. 
The people were civil in offering us milk and garden 
vegetables. To-day, although the mainmast of our 
boat had been taken down, the north wind and storm 
of sand blew so hard from nine till two o^clock that 
we could make no progress. We were not, however, 
troubled with rocks in the stream, and by sunset had 
made as far as the tame-looking district of Bowalat 
From this point we had no rocks, but rowed steadily 
down, at two and a half miles per hour, as far as some 
wells and cultivations on the right bank at Go(n)cil Ihn. 
A native of this place, calling himself a Shygeea, had 
three lines cut upon each cheek, similar to the custom 
practised on the Nile at 4"* N. ; but though an abori- 
gine, he was a Mussulman— converted, probably, at 
the time the late commander-in-chief, Ibrahim Pasha, 
conquered the country. The district was reckoned 
exactly half-way between ELhartoom and Berber ; but 
we anchored for the night at the left bank of Metam- 
ma. There were no antiquities to be seen ; and, hav- 
ing gone down stream for an hour, we lay-to on the 
20th at the town of Scendi, a straggling, dusty, miser- 
able place, but which afforded liquor to our sailors, 
and fresh bread to ourselves. There were mounds of 
ancient remains in abundance ; and three miles to the 
south-west some buildings and figures in stone were 



THE STORY OF ISHMAEL PASHA, 423 

said to exist. In the town there had been a deep 
shaft dug for a well — evidently ancient, for it is not 
now in nse : a deep stratum of pebbles, with concrete 
above, forms its sides. There appears to have been a 
canal or watercourse at this place, for its windings, 
flooded with water and covered with grass, are still 
visible. The women, as they carried water on their 
heads, struck us as having a singular way of dress- 
ing their hair ; but our Seedees remarked that a race 
of Central Africans, called the Wabeessa, near Lake 
Nyassa, adopt the same fashion. The Scendi women, 
like those of Abyssinia, have a tuft of hair on either 
side of the head and one behind, and the Wabeessa 
have the same, but add another tuft, like a high comb, 
to the top of their heads. 

Scendi is a place of some note, being the locality 
where Nimur (tiger), the former governor of all the 
blacks, planned the death of poor Ishmael Pasha. The 
story was related to us as follows : — ^After Ishmael Pasha 
had conquered Khartoom, &c., he returned to Scendi, 
and asked Nimur what he was to give him. The 
reply was, " I will give you whatever you name, silver 
or gold, for I am anxious to make friends with you." 
After a time Ishmael with some followers became the 
guest of Nimur, who heaped quantities of provisions 
and straw for cavalry around the dwelling where Ish- 
mael lived. No suspicion was excited ; but the straw 
was set fire to one windy night Ishmael, it is said, 
was too proud to attempt an escape. His followers 
shielded him as long as they could fix)m the flames, 
and one arm only was burned, but Ishmael perished 
imder the ruins. After great diflBculty a European 
recovered the body from Nimur, and it was sent for 



424 THE PYRAMIDS OF MERGE. 

interment to Cairo. A bad imitation of the mosque 
at Khartoom marks the place where this tragedy was 
enacted. 

We left for Meroe, the ancient capital of Ethiopia, 
before smirise of the 21st. Date-palms, we observed, 
were here more frequently irrigated, and the doom- 
palm grew wild. The bunder, or port, from which 
Meroe (called by the natives Tarabil Kobosheea, or 
P3rramids of Kobosheea) is visited, may be either Ko- 
bosheea or Budjerewa ; we chose the latter, as the 
wind was not favourable for landing at the former. 
The pyramids are seen two miles across a plain, upon 
the right bank, near some low elongated hills. To 
visit them during the heat of the day it is desirable 
to have riding donkeys, which, with common wooden 
saddles, may be obtained at either starting-point A 
man carries water, and you make straight for the 
ruins over a plain strewed Avith small pieces of clay of 
curious shapes and lustrous colours. There are three 
groups of pyramids. The first group consists of fifteen, 
dismantled to half their original height, and built 
apparently, as to site, without any regular system or 
order. A pyramidal shell of masonry 24 feet square, 
built without lime, and eight feet thick, had been fiilled 
with the rubble of the country. The sandstone blocks 
with which they had been faced were now so soft that 
a knife could cut them. The second group, consisting 
of 1 8 or more, half a mile farther east, are in a better 
state of preservation, and have their figures of men 
and animals wonderfully complete. We ascended one 
having ten tiers, each tier a span and a half high, 
and diminishing in breadth as you reach the summit. 
The porches or entries into several pyramids of this 



THE RUINS OF MERGE. 425 

group were arched over with stone, and handsomely 
ornamented with bas-relievo figures chiseDed out of 
the sandstone. These figures consisted of men driv- 
ing slaves, carrying sheep, or seated on lion-faced dogs, 
funeral processions, women carrying palm-leaves, and 
representations of birds, lizards, and elephants. The 
third group of five pyramids was across a death-like 
valley covered with withered grass. Having seen all, 
and made some sketches of the curious figures, we next 
visited three sphinxes very much defaced, which re- 
main amongst the ruins of the city. They were not 
marked with scales like the Soba sphinx ; they had 
been cut out of a rock with slaty stratification, and 
were defaced by the laminsB having split off. In the 
city, several old waUs and pavements, built of immense 
blocks of sandstone, are to be seen ; but everything is 
in utter decay. On returning to our boat we foimd a 
considerable number of people wishing to dispose of 
curiosities they had gathered. These were relics of 
stone and copper, some representing the scarabaeus, 
and others human figures, but no coins were produced, 
for they said the coins were too valuable to show us. 
22c/. — A considerable number of palm and acacia 
trees were growing upon the banks we passed to-day, 
and we saw Jubl Ag'edah on the left bank six hours' 
distance above the port of Damur. We called to get 
a letter of introduction, and orders for camels from 
the Mudir, Ibrahim Bey, to the Mudir of Berber. 
There are upwards of one hundred flat-roofed com- 
fortable-looking dwellings near the river, shaded by 
acacias. A market is held every Friday, when cotton, 
salt, baskets, mats, ropes, cattle, &c., are exposed for 
sale. The Atbara, a river na\4gable for a long dis- 



426 THE BLACK RIVER OR ATBARA. 

tance, is not above a few lioiirs' sail fix)m this port 
We lay for the night just above its confluence with 
the Nile, because there were sunken rocks in the bed 
of the river. In the morning we saw the Atbara, 
Bahr-el-aswad (Black river), the Astaboras of Ptolemy 
— the last great feeder of the Nile, We liked the 
brown appearance of the stream. From bank to bank 
it looked one hundred and fifty yards across, but now 
there was not more than sixty yards of water flowing 
slowly in its bed, with a low rock at its junction with 
the Nile. It joins the latter with even a more grace- 
ful sweep than we observed at the confluence of the 
Blue and White Nile. For a distance of two miles 
below its mouth there are sunken rocks very annojring 
to the boatmen, but at this dry season of April they 
are generally visible. While detained below the At- 
bara on account of contrary winds, Bombay brought 
his wife up to Speke, saying she was very unwell ; but 
as she was too difiident to speak, we could do nothing 
to help her. An hour or two elapsed, and Bombay 
came, grinning mth deUght, to announce that his wife 
had presented him with a child ! One of the girls 
in the boat had told him of it, but he did not know 
whether it was a boy or a girl — ^he would go and ask. 
This was the second child bom to Bombay upon the 
journey ; but both died, and he regretted very much 
that there would be no keepsake of the journey for 
him to take back to Zanzibar. The infant was buried 
on the shore. 

Our journey by water had now for the present 
ended — ^we had anchored off" the bunder or port of 
Berber. There was some show of trade, and twelve 
large boats lay alongside ours. The population of 



EGYPTIAN MODE OF THRASHING WHEAT. 427 

Berber and the neiglibouring villages is probably five 
thousand souls. The houses are built in irregular 
streets and lanes, chiefly near the Nile. A handsome 
embankment has been constructed around Berber, 
which forms a pleasant walk at all seasons. On the 
outskirts of this is the unenclosed burial-ground. The 
tombs have upright slabs at either end, with white 
shingle laid between, and a few are built of bricks 
and lime. From the number of graves and the extent 
they cover, it would be supposed that the locality of 
Berber is unhealthy, but the natives prefer this lati- 
tude to Khartoom : provisions, also, are only about 
half the price. Wheaten bread, milk, meat, oats, 
onions, water-melons, tobacco, salt, fish, &c., are abun- 
dant in the market every morning, and other articles 
can be obtained and work executed in the bazaai*. 
The operation of thrashing wheat is performed in the 
true Egyptian style. A man sits on a frame drawn 
by bullocks, and resting upon three rollers, each fur- 
nished with iron discs ; the bullocks eat all the while, 
and the grain is well thrashed, but the work is over- 
done, as the seed gets bruised in the process. In the 
bazaars the boys discovered that our Seedees had arrows 
and other weapons to dispose of, and came ofieiing 
money. The exchange was very easily arranged, for 
the Seedees were eager to purchase the Egyptian dates. 
The inhabitants of Berber are proverbially honest, and 
their servants are considered superior to those of 
Khartoom. I went to the market to buy food, and 
saw the rude way it was managed. The butcher not 
having sufficient weights and measures, a sheep's head 
and two broken bricks were put into one scale, and 
my meat in the other. Having weighed it, he said 



428 THE TOWN OF BERBER. 

its price was so much. Upon whicli, trusting to the 
reputed honesty of the Berberese, I put into his hand 
more than the amount, and he told me to come back 
for the change, as he was too busy to give it me then. 
This I did, and received the balance. The few troops 
here were a tidy set of men, in clean quarters, below 
the town. Their arms were flint-musket and bayonet ; 
their uniform, the fez, white jackets, knee-breeches, 
long white socks, and red shoes. At a short distance 
from their barracks there is a magazine with four high 
walls, a single gateway to the south, a few trees in 
the interior, and towers with embrasures. 

Berber became Eg}Tptian at the same time as 
Khartoom, about forty years ago, when the army ad- 
vanced from Wady Haifa. The present Governor- 
General of the Soudan, Musa Pasha, is the man of 
whom the story is told that when he was sent to 
conquer the country he circumcised every one of the 
Bagara Arabs, and so brought them under his sub- 
jection. We were not fortunate enough to have an 
audience of the Governor-General ; he was absent on 
a tour of inspection, and our friend Ali Bey acted for 
him. The Vakeel of Berber, Kehan Aga, came to call 
upon us : he had lived twenty years in Constantinople, 
and, to my surprise, he had more of the features of 
a M'ganda than a Turk. He has a comfortable 
house, well furnished, and he kindly showed us every 
attention. The Sheikh of the desert, a dark, stout, 
middle-aged man, w^e saw more of, as it was through 
him that we were to obtain camels for our journey. 
He was handsome, with a long black gown and high 
white turban. He thought we might get off in a 
couple of days ; and, in the mean time, he would get 



WE MOUNT OUIl CAMELS FOR KOROSKO. 429 

US a house to live in during the heat of the day. We 
were accordingly put into a dark inner room without 
a window, but it had a high verandah outside where 
we could sit during the day. We engaged thirty 
baggage-camels, at ninety piastres each, to carry us to 
Korosko ; the party consisted of twenty-six souls ' in 
all, and the spare camels were for carrying two guides 
and two loads of water for Speke and myself. Every 
other man had to carry his two water-bags on the 
camel he rode. We tried to get a pair of Hadjeens or 
riding camels, but failed — all were as rough as they 
could possibly be. The majority of our Seedees had 
never seen a camel before, and were somewhat afraid 
to moimt; however, once seated, their pleasure was 
excessive. All was good -humour and fun the first 
day's march to El Chore, where we arrived at sunset 
of the 27th April. El Chore, "the Lake," had no 
water at this season, but the Nile, which is within a 
quarter of a nule, overflows the grassy ground imme- 
diately below the few inhabited houses; The people 
were civil in seDing us milk, bringing us water, and 
giving us small cots to lie upon during the night. In 
the desert, amongst Egyptians, a traveller may always 
expect to be treated with civility. 

28th. — To-day we divided the march into two 
stages, making one in the morning to El Ab'idy, and 
the other to Gin'oeneet'a — the latter name as sounded 
by a native is peculiarly Italian. The journey occupied 
seven hours, generally over a hard road of gravel. 
Although never far from the river, we saw low hills 
upon the opposite bank, and travelled amongst tall 
grass, madar, and palms. From this grass the people 
make a coarse description of rope. The nights were 



430 THE RIVER OF ASSES. 

cold, owing to north winds; but, sheltered by the 
walls of the small flat-roofed houses, we rested com- 
fortably on the cots lent us by the people. From 
Gin'oeneet'a we made twenty-two miles in eleven 
hours, two stages to a point in the desert beyond 
Aboo Ban, resting during the heat of the day at Wadi 
Khumar — the bed of a stream then dry. Here there 
is a bend in the Nile, and we were able to fill all 
our water-sacks afresh. This route was over ground 
strewn with splinters, and ridged with quartz and 
clay-slate dykes. Some of the rocks were cobalt blue, 
ringing when struck, and bearing marks of having 
been combed down with rain. Wadi Khumar (which 
signifies the river of asses) derives its name from being 
the spot where wild donkeys and zebra come to drink 
We rested under some palm-trees in rich foliage, be- 
side the Nile, which, at this point, runs rapidly over a 
bed of rock, divided into several courses. After leav- 
ing the river the march became dreary and desolate ; 
not a sign of a human being ; aU a waste of heavy 
sand, dreary valleys in the hoDows, and splintered 
black rock on the heights. We lay down at night in 
a country filled to the tops of the hills with white 
sand, not a tree nor a drop of water to be seen, and a 
kind of fearftd stillness everywhere around! How- 
ever, there never was a desert that had not some 
living thing to show — some insect, bird, or animal. 
Several tiny ariel appeared as we passed the peaked 
height of Aboo Ban. In the morning we set oflf over 
the sand on foot to keep us warm, but it proved 
such heavy plodding work that, after some miles, we 
mounted the camels and descended from the plateaux 
of sand to the Nile at Bagoere, where we made our 



CAMEL-RIDING. 431 

noonday halt. The river may be called beautiful at 
this point, for it runs at a rate of from three to five 
miles an hour amongst myriads of rush-covered islets, 
with high banks about five hundred yards apart, and 
on the opposite side densely covered with tropical 
vegetation. The people of Bagoere allowed us to 
occupy a shed roofed with the leaves of the doom- 
palm. They brought us milk, and for their attention 
we made them a present of a lantern. Travelling as 
we all did upon camels, not in file as in India, one 
camel tied after the other, but like a herd of cattle 
gently driven by men walking behind them, there was 
always considerable jostling ; and if a camel wanted 
to pluck a mouthful you could not prevent him, as 
there was no ring in his nose, only a rope tied round 
his head, which gave the rider no command over him. 
Their pace was slower than that of a man, and so 
rough, that the saddle, assisted a good deal by the cold 
wind every morning, chafed the skin. The march in 
the afternoon to Wadi Shiroeg (another dry bed of a 
stream) was over rough stony ground, to the brink of 
the Nile, occupying us only two hours, when we en- 
camped under date-palms, and amongst houses, near 
one of which a rudely-made loom was at work. On 
this march we passed several cairns of stones four and 
five feet above the level of the country ; our camel- 
men could not say who had formed them, they were 
of so old a date. 

1st May. — The route to Aboo Hasheem, "the 
Father of Hospitality," was so smooth and pleasant 
that one might have ridden, driven, or walked the 
whole distance, which occupied us more than four 
hours on our baggage-camels. It lay on the outskirts 



432 SUPEBSTITION AMONGST CAMEL-DRIVERS. 

of wheat stubble-fields on the banks of the Nile, and 
on our right rose the variously - coloured rocks of 
the desert. The river is about three hundred yards 
across, and has a current of two and a half miles per 
hour. When passing a roadside house about half- 
way, we halted to go through a superstitious ceremony. 
A burial-ground was close by, with cups upon many 
of the graves, said to be placed there for receiving 
offerings of frankincense or money. We all dis- 
mounted at the hut, which had no appearance of 
being regularly inhabited, and found several jars of 
drinking water, which a boy served to us ; the skull 
of a lion was stuck upon a pole, and stood high over 
the hut. Our guide received from the boy two hand- 
fuls of sand, some of which he strewed over his per- 
son, some he put into his pockets, some he licked, 
some he put on the camels, pistols, and saddles, and 
he finished off by putting the last grains carefully into 
the bag slung from his riding animal This odd cus- 
tom is common over the desert, and is adopted by 
Ciimel-men to insure their safety on a journey. We 
came upon old acquaintances as we made for the 
north : the white kite, raven, sand-grouse, and stone- 
finches were recognised after we left Berber, and be- 
ciime the most common birds of the desert At Aboo 
Hasheem we were allotted a two-storeyed house to 
rest in. We observed that here six or eight donkeys 
in a knot are used for treading out the wheat, and are 
prevented from eating it by a band tied round the 
lower jaw, crossing the forehead, and fastened behind 
their long ears — an artful contrivance. The afternoon 
march, made to Goegee, on the Nile, occupied us till 
1 1 P.M. We had not seen the river the whole way ; 



ABOO AHMED BY MOONLIGHT. 433 

the track was over heavy sand, strewed with frag- 
ments of rock and pebbles. The hill of Bui-gul Anak 
was passed when we were four miles to its left, and 
on arrival at Goegee we could look back upon it seven 
miles off in a south-east direction. 

2d. — Starting off across the plain at sunrise, our 
beacon was a pyramidal mass of quartz a few miles 
distant We passed a tomb erected by Latiffe 
Pasha to the memory of a Liverpool gentleman, 
and at length, picking our steps amongst the spUn- 
ters from the blue and grey slate rocks, we arrived 
at Musra Jahoesh, upon a bend of the Nile, which here 
flows in a westerly direction. There were no people 
nor houses on our side of the river. To avoid the 
heat we lay in the deep shadow of the doom-palm, 
and changed our positions as the sun veered round. 
Starting again at five in the afternoon, we ascended 
to a wild dreary plateau, but which became interesting 
from the colours of the rocks. Every moment I was 
tempted to dismount and pick up specimens in which 
blue was contrasted with pure white quartz, or pink 
was marbled with white, or all three colours would 
blend together. By seven o'clock we had descended 
from this plateau by a sandy tract, and reached the 
high gravel bank of the river again. Here the moon 
lighted up the rippled blue water and the palms and 
green vegetation on the opposite bank. The village of 
Aboo Ahmed looked beautiftd in this light, but on 
reaching it we foimd it ankle-deep in sand. My camel, 
which for the first time I had pressed ahead with a 
cane, showed his fatigue by squatting down without 
warning, upon my stopping to ask for the Deewan's 
house. He knew that his journey had come to an 

2 E 



434 MANUALS CURE FOR COLD. 

end, but the proceeding would not be pleasant were 
he to try it in a desert. We rode past a large cara- 
van from Berber — traders conveying young cameb 
and home-made camel -cloths for sale to Korosko, 
whither we also were journeying. They were an- 
xious to know whether we had commenced to stint 
our camels in water, previous to putting them upon 
the desert allowance of none at all ; they had done 
so, and were ready to march next day ; we had not^ 
and therefore our march must be delayed. I may 
here remark that travelling in the desert on a baggage- 
camel is far from being comfortable. The usual seat 
is the same as that of a lady on horseback, but with- 
out any kind of stirrup, consequently the legs get 
chafed, the dry wind chips your hands and nails, and 
you get cold in the head, Manua, an old and ex- 
perienced traveller, sat always upon his camel with 
his nose in a sling, which, he said, was a protection 
against cold ; he had a cloth shutting up both nos- 
trils, and tied on the top of the head. 

3d and ith. — Detained training our camels for the 
desert journey, and getting ropes and other necessaries. 
The station of Aboo Hamed is upon the right bank of 
the NUe, with the island of Mokrat opposite. An ob- 
long wall of mud, with a tower at each comer, encloses 
the few huts that are there, and other abodes are 
placed outside the walls in a straggling line of misery. 
Sand has nearly banked up the whole place — walls, 
fort, and all — and the majority of the people live upon 
the island and opposite shore. We had a call from 
two gentlemen travelling (not for their pleasure, but 
till further orders) to that Siberia of Egypt, the Sou- 
dan, with a line of camels and horses carrying their 



MEET TRAVELLERS FROM CAIRO. 435 

worldly effects. They had been fifty-one days coming 
by land from Cairo, and were the first Egyptian 
travellers we had met They could not make out 
where we had come from, and asked us a number of 
strange questions. Was it true that the Governor-Gen- 
eral of the Soudan, Musa Pasha, had made prisoners 
of us ? had we been serving the Abyssinian Govern- 
ment ? were English oflBcers fighting for the Abyssin- 
ians ? was Queen Victoria to resign in favour of the 
Prince of Wales ? were we the remnant of fifty Eng- 
lishmen who had left Zanzibar to cross Africa ? These 
interrogatories were all put to us by an Albanian 
gentleman ; the other traveller was a priest, a very in- 
telligent man. He went so far as to say, when told 
that we had come from the source of the Nile, that 
the Koran had always said that it proceeded from a 
lake; but what was the size of it? Had we seen 
cannibals ? What did we pay for these five Seedees 
and the little girls we had with us ? Having answered 
all these queries to their satisfaction, we saw them 
depart for Khartoom. In the afternoon we had a visit 
from a fortune-teller. He sat at our feet^ smoothed 
with his hand the floor of sand, and asked our names^ 
which we did not tell him ; however, he commenced 
to span the sand and to mark it in his own cabalistic 
way, after which he pronounced the opinion, that the 
fatigues of the long journey weighed heavily upon 
Speke's heart 

5 th. — Intending to start across the desert at noon, 
we had prepared for the journey by keeping our 
camels without water for two days, and we now gave 
them as much as they could drink before setting out 
Several of them had pieces of goat-skin sewn to the 



436 LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DESERT. 

homy part of their feet to prevent the sharp pebbles 
or rock from inaking them foot -sore. We killed a 
sheep for ourselves, and hit upon an excellent plan of 
preserving the meat, by cutting it up into portions the 
size of a mutton-chop, and boiling all in grease : when 
cooled, it was put into a leathern bag, and being 
cooked, it lasted us during the journey. Our caravan 
consisted of twenty-nine persons, including two guides, 
all mounted on camels. Each camel, besides grain 
and baggage, also carried, slung on either side, two 
girbas or water-bags. We had three men and a couple 
of lads, over and above the experienced guides, for the 
purpose of driving on and attending to our camels. 
They wished us to hire more carriage, sajdng, our 
water was insufficient^ but we found that we were 
amply supplied. Setting out soon after noon, we passed 
to the right of a hill, called Moogeran. The route 
was as firm as a gravelled garden-walk, not a shrub 
nor tree upon its whole extent, and grass only where 
water had coursed after rains. I had always fancied 
a"desert" to be drifting sand, as is seen in the Over- 
land route, but here it was perfectly level, and swept 
by the wind. Several doves passed us; a jet-black 
swift skimmed in front of our troop of camels, and 
alighted on the ground without fear, as the Mother 
Carey's Chicken alights on the billows ; sand-finches 
and sand-grouse, &c., flew about We had two species 
of lizard to interest us while proceeding on our march» 
and the ground was riddled with rat-holes. These may 
be said to have represented life, and we had skeletons 
of camels representing death. The latter were in every 
state of decay and position. Few seemed to have died 
here (at the close of their journey from Korosko) with- 



A DUST-STORM. 437 

• 

out a straggla Wliile crossing to the hill above men- 
tioned, we saw at its base what seemed a lake with 
boats upon it ; our Seedees at once said, " Let ns go for 
water, let us fetch wood.'* It was a mirage, the Bahr 
Belama, or false sea, seen about two in the afternoon 
in the most fantastic shapes, wherever there was a hill 
to obstruct the current of air. There was a good deal 
of bantering amongst the Seedees after the mirage was 
discovered, each tr3ang to dupe his neighbour into 
walking over to it. We had been in the saddle from 
noon till sunset, when we dismounted for two hours 
to allow our camels to eat their com, and then we 
proceeded again, sailing over the plain of gravel till 
near daylight. This was our first severe night I felt 
as sleepy as if I had been drugged ; even walking now 
and then at a brisk pace scarcely kept us awake. 

6 th. — ^We had rested well at Aboo Inteh Shurrut, 
with the glorious heavens for our canopy, and jumped 
up off our blankets light and joyous, and were saddled 
by sunrise, having, with the aid of some of our fire- 
wood, got a luxurious cup of coffee. We had two 
severe days' work before us. First, we had to reach 
Furoodh, a four hours' morning ride across a hard 
plain, with soUtary hills in the distance, and mirage 
near them. Then we had an afternoon march to Ta- 
boon, or Taban (trouble), where the camels were baited. 
Here, the place, true to its cognomen, gave us the 
benefit of a dust - storm : the bank of cloud rolled 
on from the east — every one lay upon his face ; the 
camels turned their backs and rested their long necks 
on the ground ; the lights were blown out, and for a 
minute, while we were pelted with sand and gravel, 
all was dark. The blast, however, was soon over. We 



438 IPSEHA, OR THE CLOUDS- 

were off five minutes after it, maMng for the pass 
called Durb-wait, or Udder-a-waep (signifying narrow 
road), and entered it after passing two hills, named 
Gorebat (solitary) and AbnoogJu^ (the dnunmer). The 
pass wound very much, and varied in breadth from 
three yards to a thousand, being sometimes so rocky 
that our camel-men cheered up the spirits of the ani- 
mals by calling out to them " Abdil Ka-a-dr," as much 
as to say, "God preserve you from harm over the 
rough stones." But when the sandy level bed of the 
valley widened, and rugged mountains imprisoned it 
all round, there was something wildly-grand about 
the scene. The natives had christened this place Ip- 
seha, or the clouds. We encamped some distance up 
the valley, where a few acacias, having pods like ear- 
rings, grew upon the plain of sand. We had been for 
ten hours on the move, and we left again at one 
o'clock, keeping still in " Udder-a-wsep," or the pass, 
for six miles. Waves of drifted sand almost buried 
the higher hills, up whose sides it lay like snow- 
wreaths. Here, curious enough, were some dead trees 
which we might have carried in as firewood, but the 
Seedees were too apathetic. The desert we were about 
to enter was our first genuine sandy desert ; all the 
preceding had been firm and hard. Nothing but miles 
of heavy sand, as deep as a lake, was now seen. The 
camel-drivers and guides again shouted " Abdil Ka- 
a-dr '' to give heart to their camels, and with this short 
prayer urged the animals quickly over the danger. 
There was no trace of a path, and the night was com- 
ing on, but the sky was clear. The Seedees knew no 
danger ; all were jolly ; and as there was no chance 
of a dust-storm, we lay down for two hours. We then 



NATRON WELLS OP MORAD. 439 

resumed, and continued the journey till three in the 
morning, not feeling so sleepy as we had done the first 
few nights. It seemed extraordinary that the Sheikhs 
could find their way in such a desert in the dark, 
without the aid of hills or trees as landmarks, but 
they do so unfailingly. They are extremely careful, 
and when any of our men lay down for a moment's 
sleep, the ever-vigilant Sheikh would report him for 
being so indifierent to his own life as to linger behind 
for an instant. However, by midnight of the 7th the 
danger was past, and we walked upon rocky ground 
where the Morad valleys commence, and where there 
are springs of brackish water. 

As we approached the natron wells of Morad, the 
country appeared to open, though covered with slaty 
rocks bristling above ground. Hills and valleys, 
patched with drifted sand, presented the most dreary, 
waste-like appearance. The heat was relaxing — ^a 
crow appeared, and the Sheikh informed us that it was 
a good sign — ^we should certainly find water in the 
wells. A turn in the road suddenly disclosed a long 
valley below, running from east to west, with camels, 
donkeys, goats, and sheep standing languidly around 
five or six wells. Carcasses of animals were numerous 
in this valley of death. Our camels showed no anxi- 
ety for water, although they had been without it for 
three days ; but they seemed eager to have a roll upon 
a clear patch of sand in view. The well our party 
took possession of was protected from sand by a wall 
on its upper and lower sides. It was dug ten feet 
below the surface, and had only six inches of water. 
After having been used all day it had not run dry ; 
but the water was like saltpetre in taste. In this 



440 NITROUS DRINKING-WATER. 

dreary valley several huts built of matting are inha- 
bited by Arabs and their flocks. Who else could live 
on the spot? Where do their small long-haired 
goats get a single blade of grass to feed upon ? It 
would seem as if they could not exist ; yet before us 
is a flock of sixty, which are brought to drink at the 
well every third or fourth day, and though living on 
this brackish water, no animals ever appeared more 
healthy. The people residing here are not different 
from the natives of Aboo Ahmed, and are not more 
unhealthy ; but one of them begged for medicine to 
cure a chest complaint Several of their children were 
pretty, with inteUigent eyes, and looking wild as 
colts, with all the hair shaved off their heads except 
a forelock and long tress from the crown of the head 
In this valley of Morad there is not an atom of 
firewood; indeed, for three days' travelling, day and 
night, we had not met with more than thirty trees ; 
and, being so rarely seen, we took them almost every 
time for a mirage. 

9 th. — At eleven o'clock we left the wells en route 
for Korosko, still some days' journey without wood or 
water upon the way; and therefore we carried the 
brackish water of the Morad wells with us. It was 
very unpleasant to wash with, as it curdled the soap, 
and the exterior of the water-bags became powdered as 
with flour. The camels did not suffer much from drink- 
ing it Our route was across a series of rocky spurs 
and dykes, all tapering down to the Nile far away to 
our left The strata of the rocks seemed reversed in 
position, as if they had been uplifted by a convulsion 
in the north. One of the ridges which crossed our 
road at Wadi Soofoor was four hundred yards long, 



INTERESTING SPECIES OF PALM. 441 

and so remarkable that it looked as if a waving wall 
had been built there as a boundary between two pro- 
perties, standing up in the sky-line like chevaux-de- 
frise. The colours of the accumulated debris and 
sand in the gorges of the hill-sides were striking. At 
the top of the incline the sand was flesh-coloured and 
fiery; lower down the debris was grey and purple, 
consisting of slate in various shades, and blue rocks 
like masses of cobalt ; bits of spar were also collected. 
Between each of these are tempting valleys for a 
ride, the ground being of firm hard sand. 

The connection between each valley is formed by 
a steep rugged path, sometimes, as on entering the 
valley of Dullah, with high cliffs on either side ; and 
looking through this vista upon the scene below, the 
effect is picturesque. There is a line of palm-trees 
which adds a charm to the spot. At a distance they 
might be mistaken for the doom-palm; but their finiit, 
unbranched stems, and leaves are different. We had 
not seen them before, but Manua had found them 
growing eight degrees south of the equator, in a 
coimtry where there are numerous rivulets. Some 
seeds, brought home by the expedition, were propa- 
gated in Kew, but they ultimately died. Having 
passed the valleys of Dullah, Wadi Soofoor, and 
Thillatha Jindeh, with its acacias, we rested between 
six and eight o^clock on the sands of Wadi Mereesha^ 
and were on the move again till three of the morning. 

While riding along upon the march, conversation is 
continued in order to keep each other awake. The 
topics are generally upon the natural objects around 
us, whether it be the hills, stream-beds, trees, or rocks. 
The Seedees laughed, mimicked, and ridiculed each 



442 EXTRAORDINAKY NATUEAL TUNNEL. 

Other as they rode along briskly on their cameLs. We 
had with us a poor half-witted fellow, or fool, named 
Mahoka, whom Bombay had obtained for a few yards 
of cloth, and kept as his servant He was a hard- 
working fellow, but would often burst out into fearful 
rages, refusing to work There was something of the 
rogue about his fooleries, and he held his own amongst 
the men. One night he fell asleep upon the top of his 
camel, and dropt down upon his back on the ground, 
his legs, arms, and spear flying in the air. I thought 
the creature was killed, but he got up, laughed, 
snapped his fingers, and danced a war-dance. He 
would not, however, remount his camel for an hour or 
two. While marching through the picturesque valley 
of Dullah, a cii*cunistance elicited from !Manua in his 
account of his wanderings, may be mentioned here as 
noted at the time. I repeated it to Dr Livingstone, 
who also had received some information regarding it 
Extract, 10th May 1863 : " While riding along on our 
camels \mt night, Manua told me of a tunnel, the 
work of God, which runs north and south between 
Loowemba and Ooroongoo (two months' march from 
Kazeh), which took the caravan of Arab Khamees, 
with whom he was travelling, from sunrise till noon 
to march through, and which was as broad as from 
that white stone to the back hill (a distance which I 
judged to be four hundred yards). Over this timnel 
an unfordable river with rocky sides (here he pointed 
to the hills around us) runs at right angles to the 
Tanganyika Lake. H boats were to attempt to feny 
this river, the clifis are too steep to permit of their 
landing, — the river is forded by passing through the 
natural tunnel imderneatL As to its height, this 



EXTRAORDINARY NATURAL TUNNEL. 443 

camel, with me mounted, could mLarcli through the 
tunnel and then not touch its top. No water comes 
through ; it is obtained by digging holes in the sand. 
The reed from which the Waganda make flutes, 
grows inside it The rocks are black, and look as if 
they had been planed (basalt, from his description). 
White pebbles are plentiftd there. Inside it is not as 
clear as day, but once within it there is sufficient light 
the whole way. The natives consider it a m'zimo 
(namely, wonder or worshipping spot). They have no 
name for it, but the river above it is called Kaoma." 
On my interrogating him further, as if doubting his 
tale, and making him repeat it to Speke, he got net- 
tled, and asked with a sneer, " Did not the people of 
Wambweh take shelter in it, with their cattle, from 
the attacks of the Watuta ? (meaning a branch of the 
Zulu Kafir). And if you do not believe my story, be- 
cause I did not mention it before, ask so-and-so of 
Unyanyembe, who was of our party." Manua added, 
that " he went and returned by this timnel, as it is 
the regular highway road between Loowemba and 
Ooroongoo.'' It will be interesting to know what ac- 
coimt was received of it by Dr Livingstone. In the 
mean time the above description as to size, direc- 
tion, &c., must be considered vague and general. From 
Manua's description I understood him to say that this 
river Kaoma flowed into the Tanganyika Lake. 

We went smartly over the Bahr Huf ab, the water- 
less sea, in ten hours' marching, and by breakfast-time 
of the 10th reached Aboo Rakeeb, or father of shade, 
a shelter-rock of sandstone upon a commanding height. 
The surface of the country was dotted with black coni- 
cal masses of sandstone, intermixed with which were 



444 PAY TRIBUTE AT THE MOUTH OF THE PASS. 

volcanic bombs, single and stuck together, varying fix)m 
one inch to three in diameter. Those that had become 
detached lay like round-shot on the expanse of the 
desert. We next marched, for four hours^ across the 
Bahr Belama, descending to a pass called El Bab, 
where we dined, and then travelled all night between 
bare abrupt hills, which, as we advanced, broke up 
into cones, looking like huge redoubts and batteries. 
The footing in these valleys is of level sand. On 
arri\ang at the pass our cavalcade was halted by the 
Sheikh in command, and his men immediately com- 
menced to rattle and beat the bones of some dead 
camels that lay on the spot ; the men also screeched 
and shouted, making a great noise. The cause of this 
demonstration, we found, was, that we had there to 
pay a certain footing or tribute, and this being agreed 
to, we advanced. Frij tells me that the same custom 
exists on board of an Arab vessel when she is lea\Tng 
the port for the first time ; the new hands amongst 
the crew are obliged to contribute money, to be ex- 
pended in a jollification. In ten hours, over firm 
sand, we reached Oogab Ghowab', where there is a 
sandstone shelter-rock written upon by foreigners. 
It protected us during the heat of the day. An 
effendi (secretary) had dug a well, and surrounded it 
by a wall, but there was no water. There was, how- 
ever, some vegetation, giving us an idea that water 
was not very distant or very deep : the wild senna 
was growing, and some withered bushes of another 
plant blew about in balls with the wind. With two 
rests on the way, we reached Korosko firom Oogab 
Ghowab' after sixteen hours' travelling. In a few 
places there were slabs of sandstone, and as we neared 



THE SHEIKH OF THE DESERT. 445 

Korosko we came upon old red sandstone and eonglo- 
merate as hard as flint. Our direction during six days 
had been mainly upon the pointers to the north star, 
when they are westerly and horizontal The cry of 
the Sheikh to rouse us for the march fix)m our com- 
fortable couches upon the desert sand, can never be 
forgotten; his "Abdil Ka-a-dr,'* repeated and repeated 
till he saw us up and saddling, was at the time pro- 
voking, but how very necessary with such a waterless 
country to pass over 1 In my Journal I have noted, 
with reference to the Sheikh and his followers, that 
we should never again meet their superiors for civil- 
ity, their unpresuming modest manner, their thorough 
knowledge of their work, and their willingness always 
to serve. They would assist our Seedees in conveying 
water during the march, picking up for them what- 
ever they let fall, packing and tying up our baggage, 
and never murmuring or begging. They left us smil- 
ing, satisfied with our treatment of them. 

The first indication of the Korosko habitations was 
the appearance of some date-pahns, long-stemmed, 
like the wild date-tree of Uganda. As we emerged 
from the sandy wastes there was a general impression 
that the Nile was amongst the hills we saw ; and the 
old Sheikh confirmed this by stating that shortly we 
should drink of the waters of the Nile. Eounding a 
hill, the scattered village of Korosko was full before 
us in the midst of an amphitheatre of lulls, their fiery 
sides of sand nearly killing every living thing around 
them. There was, however, some shade by the river 
bank ; and we hired a diabeah, and a party of seven 
men to convey us to Shellal. It was a luxury to get 
rid of the camels — to experience any change — and 



446 THE PASHA SENDS A STEAMER FOR US. 

especially to taste a water-melon after such a journey I 
The eflFendi gave us every aid; and, as it was not 
desirable to stay long in a place which he called as 
hot as hell, with no wood or provisions to be had, 
our crew, glad to escape, ejaculated, " In Sha Ullah ! " 
or " God be praised," and we floated down old Nilus 
on the evening of the 12th of May. The song and 
the sailors' mode of rowing were strange to us ; the 
former was powerful, harmonious, and pleasing, and the 
men stood two feet above the deck pacing upon planks 
as they propelled the boat ; their language also had a 
strange twang to our ears — a regular Nile patois. As 
we glided past the Bar'edy hills, with narrow terraces for 
cultivation, the country appeared hot and dry ; every- 
thing was parched and arid in comparison with the 
green of the Soudan. The present Pasha will, I trust, 
open up the country of the Soudan, for it might be 
converted, by draining and irrigation, into a valuable 
possession. We were beginning ^to feel that the tour- 
ist's route had at length been reached, for at Korosko 
we were pestered for " buxees," or money. Our cap- 
tain also made an extraordinary request : provisions 
were scarce ; and, purchasing a calf, the captain de- 
manded, as his right, the head and fore-quarter of the 
animal ; which we, however, refused, although he said 
it was the perquisite of all captains who had charge 
of travellers on the Nila We landed at the snug har- 
bour of Shellal, below Phylse, and there had the final 
confirmation of our being on a beaten track, for a 
host of donkey-boys gathered round us, clamouring 
and shouting to be engaged. 

The day we were to leave Aswan for Cairo in a 
small diabeah, a steamer came puffing up the river. 



SAIL FROM CAIRO FOR ENGLAND. 447 

His Highness the Viceroy, Ismael Pasha, had sent this 
vessel to bring us down, and we sailed on the 1 9th of 
May 1863. The mudirs or governors on the way 
were politely attentive, and we anchored at Boulac, 
the port of Cairo, on the 25th, after a pleasant voyage 
of six days. Few of our Seedees had ever before seen 
a steamship, and they viewed it with strong interest. 
Every day fresh wonders were revealed to them. The 
ruins of Dandoor, Kalap'shee, and Phylae, with their 
carvings, paintings, and stone roofs, filled them with 
amazement— " no one at Zanzibar could make such 
buildings.^^ On our passage down the river, the wind- 
mills, the tall chimneys, the tame buffaloes going 
about the villages — ^all they saw interested, astonished, 
and delighted them. At Boulac the naval com- 
mander, Latif Pasha, sent for us; and on parting, after 
a short interview, he presented Speke with a bouquet 
of flowers which had just been handed to him. Our 
Seedees were lodged in the public garden at Cairo, as 
the people were afraid to admit them into their houses. 
On the 1st of June we saw them, headed by Bombay, 
depart by train for Suez, en route to Aden and Zan- 
zibar. They took leave of us with affectionate regret 
and many prayers, trusting they would again see us in 
their own country. On the same day we had a private 
audience of his Highness the Viceroy, who showed 
great interest in our journey, and offered to aid Speke 
in any further exploration. On the 4th of June we 
sailed in the Pera, Captain Jamieson, for England, 
where we arrived in safety after our long and varied 
journey, and an absence of eleven hundred and forty- 
six days. 



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I 



APPENDIX A. 



List of Personal Kit taken with us from England fob 

THE Expedition. 

12 blankets (grey Crimean) and 2 pairs scarlet do., from Qrindlay & 

Co.'s ; 73 lb. weight. 
4 leather bags for shooting apparatus, horn. Grindlay & Co.'8. 
1 set of bits in box handle, do. 

1 spring balance to 60 lb., do. 

2 iron beds, from Brown & Co.'s, Piccadilly ; 28 lb. each. 
2 belts for revolvers, from Qrindlay. 

2 watering bridles, do. 

4 packs playing-cards, do. 

2 iron chairs, Brown & Co.'s ; each 12| lb. 

1 digester for soup, Qrindlay & Co.'s. ; 1 5 lb. 

4 eye-preservers (glass and wire). 
24 flannel shirts, from Grindlay & Co.'8. 
12 pairs flannel trousers, da 

1 large housewife, do. 

4 hats, wideawake and glazed, from Qrindlay & Co.'8. 
12 ink-powder packets (black and red), do. 

India-rubber and India-rubber rings, do. 

6 japanned tin trunks, weights 13, 14, and 17 lb., from do. 
8 table knives, 6 sailors', 24 three-bladed (Bogers') for skinning 

specimens, from Grindlay & Co.'s. 
6 pairs leather leggings, short and long, from Grindlay & Ca'a. 

2 pewter mugs without glass. 

1 medicine chest, containing Brown's blistering tissue, plaster, quinine^ 

lunar caustic, citric acid, jalap, calomel, rhubarb, blue pill, colo- 
cynth, laudanum, Dover's powders, emetic essence of ginger ; 30 lb. 

2 mosquito netting. 
2 hair pillows. 

12 pocket-handkerchiefs. 

2 F 



450 APPENDIX. 

2 pcnholdersw 

6 dozen pencilB, Winsor & Newton's, &c. 

1 2-feet rule. 

2 white serge sheets. 
12 pairs shoes, Siiunett. 

6 dozen socks, half woollen, Grindlay & Co.'s. 
2 pairs stirrup-leathers. 

4 iron stools. Brown's, and 2 sketching do., Winsor & Newton's. 

7 saucepans (a nest of block-tin), Grindlay. 
16 table spoons, 8 table do., 8 tea do. 

12 sail-needles, lai^ and snialL 
2 lb. mustard and cress seeds. 
2 tents (7 by 7, and 7 feet high). 
Tools— 2 hammers, 2 saws, pincers, files, chisels, &c. 

8 pairs trousers, drill, luibleached. 
2 ovoX tin teapots. 

40 lb. tea, from Sterriker. 
2 gingham umbrellas, half carriage size, with white covers, Grindlay 

& Co.'s. 
4 waistcoats of Scotch tweed, Grindlay & Co.'s. 

2 veils (green), do. 

4 waterproof sheets (white), about 10 feet square, Grindlay & Co.'s. 

1 photographic instrument for collodion, Bland & Long. 

Ifutrumentsfar Obstning ; weight 228 lb. 

3 sextants of 8^ inch radius, Troughton & Simms. 

2 stands for do., do. 

2 artificial horizons. 

1 chronometer (gold), Barraud & Lund. 

1 do. (silver), Parkinson & Frodsham. 

1 lever watch (R & Lund), with double-detaching second-hand. 

1 do. (Dent), with split second-hand. 

1 do. (Jones). 

3 prismatic compasses, cardless, with platinum rings, T. & Simms. 

2 magnetic compasses (pocket), Eliot 

1 telescojM?, 1 rain-gauge (travellers'), and 1 rain-gauge (Livingstone's). 

6 boiling thermometers. 

1 mjLximum and 1 minimum thermometer, Casella. 

1 Alassey's patent log ; 10 lb. 

2 bull's-eye lanterns, with vessels to fit for boiling thermometers, 

Casella. 

Mapping and Drawing Instrummts. 

2 reams mapping paper, Malby & Sons. 
Tracing paper, black and white, Winsor & Newton. 



APPENDIX. 451 

1 circular brass protractor, Eliott ; 1 parallel ruler on rollers, Eliott 
1 case mathematical instruments, Eliott. 

1 pocket-compass, 1 50-feet measuring tape, one drawing-board. 
^ ream open fookcap, graduated in squares. 

2 boxes of water-colours, Winsor & Newton. 
4 block sketch-books, 2 Clifford's. 

Boohs. 

1 Raper*8 'Navigation.' 

1 Coleman's * Nautical and Lunar Tables.' 

4 log-books, 12 field-books, and 5 longitude do., F. Galton, Esq. 
4 Nautical Almanacks, 1860-61-62-63. 

Tables for measuring breadth of rivers, Qalton. 

Maps of Africa, all the recent, foreign and English. 

RifUi — ArvM and AmmunUum — Remlven, 

2 single rifles, Lancaster's elliptical, . 40 bore. 



1 single Blisset, 


4 


do. 


1 do. do. 


16 


do. 


1 double do. 


20 


do. 


1 do. smooth do. 


12 


do. 


1 do. rifle do. 


(?)10 


do. 


1 six-barrelled revolving Colt rifle. 






1 Whitworth sporting rifle. 






1 double Hinooth-bore by . 


12 


do. 



2 Tranter^s revolvers ; 8 lb. each, 
500 rounds for each barrel. 

50 carbines, with pouches, sword-bayonets, and belts, Royal Artilleiy 
pattern 1860 ; each 13 lb. 
200 rounds to each carbine ; caps in complement 

Presents. 

1 watch by M'Cabe, in sword-belt, for Zanzibar sultan. 

3 gold-enamelled lever watches, by M'Cabe. 



REMARKS UPON THE ABOVE KIT. 

On reacliing Egypt we still had a suit of clothes, a single 
rifle, and some bullets each. Except the scientific instru- 
ments, everything else had been given away as presents or 
was worn out. I may remark that we found nothing want- 
ing in this outfit to make it complete and excellent in every 



452 APPENDIX. 

respect The iron beds and chairs of Messrs Brown & Co. 
of Piccadilly, were admirabla The digester, very useful 
The japanned tin cases stood the wear and tear of the 
journey to the last ; they are recommended as superior for 
travelling to trunks or portmanteaus, made of wood or 
leather. Crimean blankets, and sheets of white serge, also 
sheets of waterproof, are indispensable upon such a journey. 
The stout lacing-shoes, made by Messrs Simnett, Bishopsgate 
Street, resisted the wet even without blacking. The nest of 
block-tin cooking-pots, although in constant use, lasted for 
two years, so also did our single canvass tents. Our shep- 
herd-tartan waistcoats (both back and front of the same 
material) were so strong, that at the end of the journey 
they did not appear to have been much worn. The suits of 
flannel, though comfortable, were liable to be torn in going 
through thorny covers. 

The scientific instruments were little damaged by the 
journey, as they were always placed in the hands of trust- 
worthy porters. 



APPENDIX B. 



The following is the analysis of the sand found in the 
Apiiddo stream (page 343) : — 

" London, llth Nov. 1864. 

" Dear Sir, — In the absence of Sir Eoderick Murchison 
from town, Mr Francis Galton left with me a small bottle of 
sand, together with a note from you, requesting him to get 
the contents tested. This has been done in Dr Percy's 
laboratory, and Mr Eichard Smith (Dr Percy's assistant.) 
reports as follows : — 

"*The black sand consists cliiefly of tituniferous iron ore 
(ilmenite), with small quantities of quartz, magnetic iron 
ore, and scales of yellow mica. The sand is free from gold 
or silver.' 

** Ti*usting that this information will be in time for your 
forthcoming work, I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully, 

"TRENHAM REEKS. 
'* Captain Grant." 



THE END. 



KRIKTED BT WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND MNil, RDIKBUROIf. 



LATELY PUBLISHBD, 
I. 

WHAT LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE 

SOURCE OF THE NILE. 

Bt JOHN BANNING SPEKE, Captain H.M. Indian Anny. 

Octavo, with Maps, &c., 14s. 

"Evory paragrapb, to thoM specially interested in geographical disooTeries, 
will prore eminently attraotiye, and will tend, no douht, to lay the foundation of 
accurate infondation concerning a country which, under its natural aspects, is 
so beautiful and §o prolific in its productions, and demands, on many grounds, 
the attention of the European.**— ^oAn Bull. 

'* Will be read with peculiar interest, as it makes the record of his travels com- 
plete, and, at the same time, heightens, if possible, our admiration of his indo- 
mitable perseveranco as well as tact.*' — Ditpatch. 



II. 

JOURNAL 

OF THE 

DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 

By JOHN HANNING SPERE, CapUin H.M. Indian Army. With a 
Map of Eastern Equatorial Africa by CArTAiN Speke; Numerous 
Illustrations, chiefly from Drawings by Caftaix Grant; and Por- 
traits, Engraved on Steel, of Captains Speks and Grant. 

Octavo, price 21s. 



" The volume which Captiun Speke has presented to the world poansses more 
than a (^graphical interest. It is a monument of perseverance, courage, and 
temper displayed under difficulties which have perhaps never been equalled.**— 
TitMi, 

** Captain Spoke has not written a noble book so much as he has done a noble 
deed. The volume which records his vast achievement is but the minor fact — the 
history of his discovery, not the discovery itself ; yet even as a literary perform- 
ance it is worthy of very high praise. It is wholly free from the traces of book- 
manufacture. ... It is, however, a great story that is thus plainly told ; astoiy 
of which nearly all the interest lies in the strange facts related, and, more than 
all, in the crowning feet that it f^ecs us, in a large degree, from a ge<^japhical 
puszle which had excited the curiosity of mankind — of the roost illustrioos em- 
perors and communities- from very early times." — Athenauvn, 

"This volume of Captain Speke*s, in which he establishes beyond dispute his 
right to the honoTir of a discovery which had engaged the attention and curii»- 
sity of men from the earliest ages, is not only a record of that discovery — it is 
a monument of heroic persistency under circumstances the most appalling, and 
a treasury of new and surprising knowledge of many kinds. More enchanting 
than a fairy tale, more exciting than a novel, its greatest charm is yet that 
eyery word of it is true, and its thrilling revelations are recounted with a modesty 
which is, we suppose, as characteristic of true genius as it is of real braviffy.** — 
Daily Newt, 

WILLIAM RliACKWOOD & SONS. EDINBURGH k LONDON.